Joseph Mallozzi's Blog, page 29

December 15, 2024: Sharky Sunday!

Sharky’s Top 5 Cheese-inspired Dog Names…

Sharky Snacks – rice crispy edition!

Fighting blind –

Eau de Sharky –

Scrappy –

Out and About with Sharky: Pug Meetup!

Angry sneeze!

 

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That Time I Had To Do My Own Research

[Crossposted from my X account: @BaronDestructo]

I originally posted this as a casual, anecdotal response to a comment. It engendered generally positive reactions with the exception of one guy who took great exception to my even sharing my experience. In the end, he was such a whiny bitch that I decided to retell my experience as a proper post in the hopes that it will reach more eyes and perhaps help a few individuals. And, maybe, infuriate that whiner even more.

So, about a year and a half ago, I started to experience discomfort. It felt like indigestion but made eating difficult as, every time I ate something, it felt like half my meal would sit, trapped, at the top of my stomach. It got especially worse at night when I would wake up nauseous or sweating and reached the point where I would have to sleep propped up at a 45 degree angle for relief. I was taking antacids every evening and still the problem persisted.

At my wife’s insistence, I went to see my doctor who prescribed a round of proton pump inhibitors (a drug to reduce stomach acid). After about a week, I wasn’t feeling any better and returned to my doctor who prescribed a round of different proton pump inhibitors. Yet my stomach issues persisted. I could barely get through a meal and, as someone who enjoys eating, you can imagine what that must have been like.

Eventually, I went in for an endoscopy that found inflammation, but nothing of concern. So I was prescribed another set of much stronger proton pump inhibitors.

I remember going home that afternoon feeling tired and frustrated. The new proton pump inhibitors were working in their own way, but it felt like they were simply masking the problem. Out of desperation, I did the one thing everyone advises you not to do. Yes, I did my own research.

I came across a youtube video by a fellow named Dr. Berg (
@dr_ericberg
) who broke down my symptoms to a tee: the discomfort, the progression, the futile attempts to address the problem with antacids. His explanation was surprisingly counter-intuitive. Rather than producing too much acid, he argued, my stomach was not producing enough. He suggested the following treatment: 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar with a half teaspoon of cinnamon and some lemon juice (I came to prefer lime) diluted in a glass of water (I prefer carbonated) every morning.

I was admittedly dubious. Very dubious. It sounded like complete nonsense, the equivalent of holistic witchcraft, but I was miserable, nothing else had worked, and I was willing to try anything. So I did.

Within a day, my condition vastly improved. The nausea disappeared. My appetite returned. I was able to sleep through the night. On the one hand, a simple home remedy had surprisingly addressed my months-long stomach issue. On the other hand, I had only used a single pill from the very expensive round of proton pump inhibitors I had been prescribed.

Of course consult with a medical professional first, but it doesn’t’ hurt to look at alternate, non pharmaceutical options as well. This is not medical advice and everyone’s mileage may vary, but I’ve incorporated ACV into my daily routine (I use a straw to sip to avoid potential damage to tooth enamel and always chase it with water) with terrific results. I’ve also taken Dr. Berg’s advice and made other adjustments to my diet – incorporating sauerkraut, kefir, grass-fed beef and free-range eggs into my meals along with fruits, vegetables, butter and olive oil, and supplements like vitamin D and magnesium glycinate to name but a few.

Like I said, your mileage may vary and consult with a physician first, but if this post helps anyone (or, at the very least, pisses that one guy off just a little more) the time I’ve taken in posting will have be worth it.

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December 13, 2024: Our Outer Limits rewatch continues with season 1, episodes 21-24!

Season 1, Episode 21, “The Children of Spider County”

This episode was first broadcast February 17, 1964

Like many of the previous scripts, Joseph Stefano – for better or worse – did an extensive rewrite on another writer’s draft. Some of the changes included bringing down the number of prodigy boys from ten to five, losing some of the instances of the hatred Ethan experiences in his community, and some violent elements like the fact that Ethan sets his victim on fire after breaking his jaw in three places. In fact, the early draft contained a fire motif that was excised completely from the final version.

As for the “monster” in this episode, writer Anthony Lawrence was not a fan: “That monster was merely gratuitous. It was added to please the network .“

For his part, producer Stefano was critical of Leonard J. Horn, and specifically cited the barn scene discussion between father and son that ended up far more elaborate than he had scripted: “A director will get bored, or scared he can’t maintain interest in a scene where there i s nothing to do except sit and watch actors act. So he makes the viewer into two people-one watching and one listening. And that’s a conceit I detest. I think Leonard was afraid to play a scene between two people that ran for more than two pages, and that changed the show unproductively.“ I kind of empathize with Stefano here, having been there myself. But even while watching the episode, I had to roll my eyes at some of the directorial choices, like that scene where we go to a neutral shot of Ethan, then cut to an ominous low angle shot of his father coming through the door, back to neutral on Ethan, back to that low angle shot. It was like a student film.

Alan Baxter, who was rewriting “The Mutant” at the time, had his own take on the situation: “Joe was overcome by the authority of being i n the captain’s chair, and laid down difficult rules, such as no script changes on the set without his approval – then he wasn’t available when you wanted to follow his rules by clearing it with him. Lenny Horn in particular ran afoul of this . Horn’s changes were not wrong, but they were not what Stefano had envisioned.” Which is why, on Dark Matter, I had Ivon Bartok on set to field any questions and put out any fires while I was in prep or doing rewrites. On the other hand, I have heard of other, uh, franchises where the mere suggestion of altering a single word is considered blasphemous.

Anthony Lawrence, the writer of this episode, had a four script deal for the show. “The Children of Spider County” was his second script after “The Man Who Was Never Born”. He would never get to write those last two scripts. Said Lawrence: “”It was interesting but I wasn’t terribly excited by i t .“

Which approximates my feelings for this episode, minus the interesting part. Bad script, bad direction, and a pretty awful performance by our lead, Lee Kinsolving, who delivered an equally wooden performance in the Twilight Zone episode “Black Leather Jackets”. Also, did they really have to do the vaseline-smudged camera lens schtick again for this episode? I mean, I can buy it for the last episode because it kind of tracked with the fact the alien was a light being, but here it just looks like a filthy lens. Boy was this bad.

Season 1, Episode 22, “Specimen: Unknown”

This episode was first broadcast February 24, 1964

This episode purportedly features the first use of the term “space shuttle” in television history.

The space ship set and suits were re-uses form the television series Men into Space (1959).

150 prop plants were created for this episode, most of which fired mist and spores (aka Puffed Wheat cereal).

If this episode feels like it dragged at points, that’s because it came in at 45 minutes and required an extra 7 minutes of padding. After all they had gone through on this episode in production, series creator Leslie Stevens referred to this revelation as “adding the worst kind of insult to grievous injury.”

This was the highest rated episode of the first season. This, no doubt, the result of the preceding episode, “The Bellero Shield”, that probably led viewers to believe the show would be delivering episodes of the same caliber week to week – only to get saddled with this stinker.

Series creator Leslie Stevens on this episode: “‘Specimen: Unknown’ was a case where I was just in hysterics. You get past being afraid and you laugh, and slide under your seat and have to be picked up. It was just a disaster; we got it together out of blind hope, really.“

Director Gerd Oswald: “I got stuck with that script and there wasn’t much you could do. It was a very weak story. The only interesting thing about it was the end-the rain destroying the plants like a word from God. I built the whole film up to that one moment; otherwise there wasn’t much meat to it. Dreadful.“

The episode was not without its issues. And, uh, tissues. According to Leslie Stevens: “When I saw the first dailies, they told me, ‘Leslie, we cannot afford enough flowers . . . ‘ I said that was too bad; they’d have to make more out of. . . something. So Dick Rubin, the prop man , made them out of Kleenex. Past the twenty or so flowers in the foreground, there they were, plain as day – Kleenex! It was all perfectly in focus, so of course you could see that there were only six rows of flowers and 40 rows of Kleenex on sticks after that. And I thought, holy shit, this isn’t going to work! And then we showed the flowers ‘dealing death’ and it looked like they were squirting out talcum powder and popcorn. I could see the wires on the plants. I was beside myself!“

Looking back at the episode, Stevens concluded: “Talk about laughs. We were just dying. And this wasn’t fun
laughter. This was the kind of nervous laughter that comes out of you just as you get put before a firing squad ! “

A terrific space station setting squandered on an abysmal script. This episode was just one imbecilic decision after another, building on self-inflicted injuries that culminate in one of the most unsatisfying deus ex machine endings in recent memory. From the idiot in the science lab who mentions spores yet makes no attempt to protect himself from potential contagion to the military arriving at the scene of the crash, without hazmat suits, so they can traipse about the killer fauna.

Easy Bottom 5 episode of the entire series. This one will be hard to beat.

Season 1, Episode 23, “Second Chance”

This episode was first broadcast March 2, 1964

The original title of this episode was “Joyride”.

The original script was written by Sonya Roberts but her first draft was rewritten by Lou Morheim. Apparently, the basic premise and plot was retained but the revised version lost a lot of the charm, character nuance, and humor, instead becoming a more simplistic story with more focus on “the monster” as per ABC’s request. A disappointed Roberts ended up opting for a pseudonym on the episode, going with Lin Dane.

The look of the alien was a source of amusement for some. Recalled one crew member: “The mask got joked about a lot. We called it Chicken Little.” It was later repurposed for the original Star Trek pilot “The Cage” (1966).

I actually really love the idea of an alien posing as a cheap amusement park mascot to coax unwary humans onto a real spaceship but, yet again, we have a case where a promising premise is undone by poor execution. This is one that could and should have been played for laughs and, in the end, suffered from its overly serious tone. I don’t know. For some reason, I saw David Harbour as the Empyrean and kept waiting for the funny.

Our Outer Limits rewatch continues with…

Season 1, Episode 24, “Moonstone”

This episode was first broadcast March 9, 1964

The lunar surface was comprised of four feet of multicolored sand while the backdrops were paintings by astronomical artist Chelsey Bonestell.

The Grippians had ping pong balls for eyes and were filmed inside a water tank allow for their tendrils to sway. The Grippian sphere, meanwhile, was a lamp post globe from Beverly Hills street. During filming, more than one crew member was heard to shout: “Bring on the street lamp!”

Writer William Blast included several dynamic action sequences in his original draft – which proved too costly for production and were either cut or significantly altered.

Producer Joseph Stefano on this episode: “Anytime we began to get really science fictiony, I knew we were in trouble. “‘Moonstone” caused a lot of problems, as did any show calling for ‘futuristic’ qualities. The things we could afford to do were tight, naturalistic dramas and Gothic melodramas.” Gothic melodramas? Pretty stunning to hear the showrunner of a science fiction series admit they weren’t very good at pulling off science fiction.

Series creator Leslie Stevens was no less pointed about this episode: “I don’t dislike any of the Outer Limits episodes, but some of them are hysterical, for all the wrong reasons. Case in point: “Moonstone”. It had an entity in the middle of it that talked, and everything it said was absolute bilge! We went into hysterics every time it spoke!“ Another interesting admission – that basically the script was crap. And I would consider the fact that they laughed at their own crummy work kind of amusing – except this is like the third episode it has happened. Rather than being funny, I now find it rather sad.

The best thing I can say about this episode is that it places us at the halfway point of our Outer Limits rewatch. Otherwise, another squandered opportunity. The episode writer and the director would never work on the show again. And, I suppose, with good reason. The script was pretty pedestrian and the direction…ouch. Go back and rewatch the moment where Anderson “trips” and stumbles into the exposed machine wiring, pretty much throwing himself into the damn thing. Good lord. It really looked and felt like they didn’t even care.

***

Past the halfway mark but only eight episodes to go in season 1.  I propose we take a little break once we complete it and come back strong and energized to finish up in the New Year!

The post December 13, 2024: Our Outer Limits rewatch continues with season 1, episodes 21-24! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.

December 12, 2024: A short pre-Christmas trip before the Christmas trip!

Well, back in Montreal.  Mom’s oxygen levels were low so she was admitted to emergency.  She’s better, but they want to keep her for a few more days.  I got in yesterday and spent the night at the hospital, got back to my mother’s place for 10:30 a.m., tried to nap only to have the neighbors swing by to pick up the dogs, so I took the opportunity to grab an early lunch before they came back.  Once the dogs returned, I tried to nap again only to be interrupted once again, this time by a phone call, message, and an incessant beep from the answering machine.  I tried to get back to napping and found myself exhausted but unable to sleep, so have decided to update this blog before heading outside to move some of the carport furniture indoors before it gets REALLY REALLY REALLY cold (as opposed to the just REALLY REALLY cold of today).

Before leaving, I decided to treat myself to an early Christmas gift.  Actually, several early Christmas gifts…

Clockwise from left corner: Owl Man, Count Nefaria, Tombstone, and WEF’s Klaus Schwab.  It’s been a while since I’ve added to my supervillain action figure collection (which now must number upwards of 500).  Nothing quite matches the thrill of seeking out and purchasing these bad boys (and girls).  But buying them is like eating chocolate-covered almonds.  Once you have one or four…  Anyway, not long after I landed in Montreal, Akemi sent me the following DM –

Ooooooh, boy!

And then, this morning, she went me the following pics of more recent rogue purchases, neatly organized by toy line…

DC Multiverse: Zssaz, Pycho Piratę, and the promised Captain Boomerang!

Also from the DC Multiverse: Sinestro and Deathstorm.

Finally, my favorite lineup care of the McFarlane Toy Line: Retro Clock King, Joker, Riddler and – my favorite of favorites – Roddy McDowall’s Bookworm.

Akemi is also exceptional at folding bath towels, t-shirts, and underwear.

Well, off to watch another episode of The Outer Limits.  I must admit, this show pales in comparison to the superior Twilight Zone.  I’m about halfway through the 48 episode run and I honestly don’t know if I can make it.

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December 11, 2024: Amazing Covers!

A few that caught my eye this week…

Dazzler #4 – cover art by Jenny Frison

The Incredible Hulk #20 – cover art by Greg Land

Ultimate Universe: One Year In #1 – cover art by Dike Ryan

X-Factor #5 – cover art by Jenny Frison

Action Comics #1079 – cover art by Jason Shawn Alexander

DC vs Vampires: World War V #5 – cover art by Otto Schmidt

Gotham City Sirens Uncovered #1 – cover art by Homare

Green Lantern #18 – cover art by Xermanico

Superwoman Special #1 – cover art by Mark Spears

So, which were YOUR favorites?

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December 10, 2024: Our Outer Limits rewatch continues with season 1, episodes 17-20!

Season 1, Episode 17, “Don’t Open Till Doomsday”.
This episode was first broadcast January 20, 1965.

In the original script, the alien in the box (who fans affectionately named Turdo) has a pretty good reason for wanting to destroy the universe. He/It explains: “Your universe intrudes on our void. We saw the need to un-create it.”

Actress Miriam Hopkins, who played Mary Kry, was Margaret Mitchell’s first choice to play Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). She turned down the role of Ellie Andrews in It Happened One Night (1934), a role that eventually went to Claudette Colbert who won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance. Hopkins had a long-running feud with Bette Davis and, years after Hopkins’ death, Davis remarked that, while she was a good actress, she was nevertheless a “real bitch”.

Hopkins was, apparently, not that far removed from the character she portrayed in the episode. According to 1st AD Claude Binyoin Jr.: “I got a call that Miriam didn’t want to come down to the set. I had to go up to her apartment and convince her to come. She didn’t feel like working that day. And there she was, with cold cream on her face, and it was one of those weird moments, like a bad dream, trying to convince this star who was fading in and out of the real world that it was very necessary for her to come to the set because there were a lot of people depending on her. She was unhappy with her life, and I was afraid she might decide to end it all any moment. I really didn’t know. But she was a lovely person, never angry at any point. She had those problems, and depressions, partly because she was once quite beautiful, and it was hard for her to deal with the fact that those days were over for her. “

John Hoyt, who played Emmet Balfour, made two Twilight Zone appearances, the first in “The Lateness of the Hour” and the second a more memorable turn as an undercover Venusian in “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up”.

Many have interpreted the episode as a commentary on repressed sexuality. In The Outer Limits Companion, author David J. Show describes: “The alien is a mad amalgam of phallic/vaginal symbol ogy, the physical nexus for the sexual fears that pervade the scenario.” And writer Joseph Stefano confirmed this interpretation: “It’s one of the most overtly sexual shows of them all,”he once said. “Most of it is conscious and deliberate, but there certainly are a lot of undercurrents in my writing that I don’t become aware of until after the fact.“

I…guess. While I did respect the, shall we say, “less straightforward” narrative of this episode, I was still left with too many questions at the end for me to be wholly satisfied with “Don’t Open Till Doomsday”. Who was that old lady in the wheelchair and what was her connection to the whole set-up? Why would Balfour, after getting zapped by the alien the first time, readily admit his ruse in front of the alien instead getting out of the damn room first and out of the line of fire? What exactly was Mary Kry’s deal with the alien? And how old is the bride-to-be? There’s a scene in the car when she reminds her prospective husband that it’s illegal to be married before the age of consent. THAT was undoubtedly the creepiest part of this episode.

Season 1, Episode 18, “ZZZZZ”

This episode was first broadcast January 27, 1965.

According to producer Joseph Stefano: “”I commissioned ‘ZZZZZ’ because of Joanna Frank. There was something about her face I thought would photograph beautifully, and so I had Meyer Dolinsky do the script. That business at the end with the wedding veil was mine; it worked even though there was nothing terribly original about the story.“

Meyer Dolinsky’s first draft was markedly different from Stefano’s rewrite, focusing on Ben’s infidelity. Said Dolinsky: “I wrote it from Francesca’s point of view. The beekeeper falls i n love with Regina and rejects his own wife before finding out at the last minute that the girl is a bee.” At which point Ben shoots Regina. “I had a high degree of temptation going, with Ben having the hots for this young chick. Stefano reversed all that. My own thinking was it was because he was married, and I wasn’t.” Furthermore: “I did not agree with his ending; in fact, I tried to get him to cut it. It went on interminably, this long, moral speech which I felt was unnecessary.” I totally agree with Dolinsky. His version would have been more daring. Ben’s ham-fisted speech at episode’s end is a real clunker.

Actress Joanna Frank, who played Queen Bee Regina, recalled she received little support from episode director John Brahm: “I didn’t get much direction except for once – the scene where I embrace the tree. He (Brahm) just said ‘Go with your feelings” and I went crazy overplaying it.”

As for her character’s buxom appearance, there is this amusing admission: “I’ve always been rather, how you say, well-endowed. But for some reason I can’t remember, I stuffed my bra ful l of nylon stockings for that show. There was a scene where I was lying on a table , and [actor Conrad Hall] complained that he couldn’t see my face! He said, ‘Can you do something about your, uh, tits?’ And I started pulling out stockings and going, ‘How’s this?’ And then I’d puJl two more out… I remember the casting director saying to me, ‘We were really thinking of a strawberry blonde for this.’ I had some thought that Regina had to be bigger than life, so between padding my bra and the false eyelashes, that was my conception of a bee.“

I wish they had filmed Dolinsky’s first draft because, to be honest, I enjoyed the sheer ridiculousness of this episode and solely bumped on the story elements that, it turned out, were added by Stefano. I thought Joanna Frank’s performance weirdly perfect for the role, and I loved the way Regina dispatched of Francesca Fields as I did that moment Regina topples off the balcony and frantically flutters her arms. Also was very pleased with the ending that sees Regina fly off to, presumably, more virile victims.

This one isn’t highly ranked among the Outer Limits fandom but, right now, it’s sitting in my Top 10.

Season 1, Episode 19, “The Invisibles”

This episode was first broadcast February 3, 1965.

This episode was likely based on Robert Heinlein’s “The Puppet Masters”.

The exterior shots of the barracks were not a set. They were actual WWII barracks.

Writer-Producer Joseph Stefano considered this episode one of his favorites: “Everyone is so good in it. The way Gerd shot it was disturbing; it’s a tight, tense show, and even today, watching a scene by itself makes me uncomfortable. The effect is one of overall, pervading evil.“

Not everyone involved in the production felt the same way however. Network censor Dorothy Brown called to express her concern. According to Stefano: “It unnerved and unsettled her. When she saw the rough cut, she said, ‘I don’t know what to do about this; this film bothers me and I can’t tell you why, or what to cut.'”

Director Gerd Oswald had not so fond memories of Brown, referring to her as “the real monster on Outer Limits!” Said Oswald: “Some of the notes she wrote Joe were so ridiculous you just wouldn’t believe it; objections to anything that might be too gory or spooky. Her superior at ABC was a guy named Adrian Samish, who was a total terror. Stefano threw him out of his office once.” Perhaps not surprisingly, Samish would later be promoted to president of ABC.

Recalled Stefano: “We fought continually with the censors. I used to put things into scripts knowing they’d be taken out, just to save other things from cutting. Normally, we’d get three and four page lists of things that ‘had to go’. The signals were all crossed. I’d get a call from the network heads, saying, ‘Let’s have more monsters ; we love this ; do more of that. ‘Generally, it would be the very thing Dorothy Brown hadn’t wanted me to do. And every time you get a letter from Continuity it still doesn’t mean they’ll okay the show even if you make the changes. It’s all ‘subject to final viewing’. My ace in the hole was to refuse to air the show. My objective became not to get caught and crushed between the censors and the network heads. So, I’d argue with Dorothy up to a certain point and then say, ‘Well , then, let’s just pull the show’.’ Then all the phones would start ringing. As soon as everybody heard that, they’d get time-conscious and eventually the show would come back okay. They’re weird people.“ This incident reminded me of a personal experience involving a Stargate: Atlantis episode called “The Tower”.

Shades of the goa’uld! I really did like the set-up but can’t say I was enamored of the execution, especially that climactic moment when the injured Spain drags himself along with the wigged crab in cold pursuit. I also laughed at the scene in which General Clarke takes the time to explain the dastardly plan to Spain and, once done, realizes Spain has already left. On the plus side, I really liked the performance of a young Richard Dawson, credited as Dick Dawson.

Speaking of which, I wonder if what may have made the network censor uneasy, that certain something she couldn’t quite put her finger on, may have been the episode’s much discussed homoerotic subtext. Some of the imagery and dialogue was considered pretty bold for the era. Thoughts?

Season 1, Episode 20, “The Bellero Shield”

This episode was first broadcast February 10, 1964

The Control Voice’s closing narration is the shortest of any episode at only 19 words.

This was Chita Rivera’s acting debut. She was a close friend of writer-producer Joseph Stefano who said: “I put the Chita Rivera character in. Without shoes. No one would’ve written that part but me.” (Yep. A real trailblazer). While Rivera accepted the role, she reportedly lobbied to play the part of Judith Bellero.

John Hoyt and Sally Kellerman would appear as USS Enterprise personnel in each of the Star Trek pilots: Hoyt as Dr. Philip Boyce in The Cage (1966) and Kellerman as Dr. Elizabeth Dehner in Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966).

At this point in his career, actor Martin Landau was teaching an acting class and was ever-mindful of his students whenever he accepted a job.: “I was in plain view of all of my students. If my work didn’t reflect the level of commitment and excellence that I insisted on from them, they’d have thought me a hypocrite, untalented and phony. They watched me like hawks. It made me practice what I preached, kept me on my toes.“

John Hoyt, who played many an alien on the show, recalled: “the awful discomfort of my makeup and costume . For two days I could see only with great difficulty, and it was impossible to eat or drink. My young son, who came on the set late, refused to believe [I] was his father. In distress he kept asking, ‘Where’s my dad?'”

The production went back and forth on how to achieve a glowing effect for the alien, finally deciding on putting some vaseline on the camera lens. Director of Photography Conrad Hall revealed: “The light reflected through the vaseline and spread out in emanating rays. I was careful not to use too much vaseline, so you don’t realize that the creature alone is out of focus.” I don’t know if it was wholly successful. It looked more like a focus issue to me, especially when other characters strayed too close to the shmear.

I quite liked this episode, from its fairly contained story to its affable alien, the strange relationship between Judith and Mrs. Dane, and the fourth act twist that, had this been a Twilight Zone, would have ended the episode. Martin Landau was great as was Neil Hamilton who puts in his second Outer Limits guest appearance in a row. This episode felt like a companion to the similarly themed “The Galaxy Being”.

What did you think?

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December 9, 2024: Crime Binge Recommendations!

638 shows deep into my Crime Binge, these are some of the shows I would recommend you check out…

Patria – 1 season (Spain)

The story of two families affected by ETA’s terrorism in the Basque Country.

A fascinating study of a grim period in Spain’s history.  Some wonderful character work here as the series explores families caught up on both sides of the struggle.

Klangor – 1 season (Poland)

A father launches a desperate search for his missing daughter.

Don’t let the cover fool you.  No humor here, dark or otherwise, in this at times bleak but no less griping tale of a father’s unwavering determination to find out the truth about what happened to his daughter following her mysterious disappearance.

A Besúgó/The Informant- 1 season (Hungary)

In Communist Hungary in 1985, Geri is eager to start his first year of college. But his plans are interrupted when the State Security blackmails him into spying on Zsolt Száva, a radical pro-democracy leader.

The ending is a little pat, but this is fascinating glimpse into how Hungary’s youth negotiated communism’s iron rule in the 1980’s.

Maetdwejisanyang/Boar Hunt – 1 season (South Korea)

Two young boys go missing from a rural village during a seasonal boar hunt. 

An intriguing dramatization of small town dynamics, friendships, and jealousy amidst the backdrop of a search for two missing boys.

Hodejegerne/Headhunters – 1 season (Norway)

A corporate headhunter has lied and manipulated his way to success. Soon his lies begin to catch up with him and become a danger to both himself and the people around him.

Apparently a prequel to a very popular movie based on a book by crime writer Jo Nesbo, this series stands on its as an enjoyable, briskly-paced, darkly humorous thriller.

 

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December 8, 2024: Sharky Sunday!

Green bean!

Impatient…

Visiting the optometrist…

Can’t wait…

His favorite chews…

Cold day outing…

Sassy model…

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December 7, 2024: Our Outer Limits rewatch continues with season 1, episodes 13-16!

Season 1, Episode 13, “Tourist Attraction”

This episode was first broadcast December 23, 1963.

This episode boasts the longest opening narration at 181 words.

This is the only episode in the series to feature narration within the body of the show in addition to the episode intro and outdo.

This episode does not end with the familiar “We now return control of your television to you.”.

“The material I’d written was mediocre,” said writer Dean Riesner. “I blame certain shortcomings the show had on the fact that I wrote in many special effects aspects that gave the production people difficulty.” To address this, Joseph Stefano did a rewrite on the script. According to Riesner: “They didn’t have to change it too much to make it awful.”

Years later, Reisner who would go on to script the t.v. miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man and co-write Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry and The Enforcer, admitted he would occasionally sit down and watch his old Outer Limits effort: “I sit and watch it with dreaded fascination, wondering what the hell is going on .“

Underwater cameraman Paul Stader worked out a hand-clapping signal for the actors in the fish suits so they could indicate when they needed to surface . At one point, the gesture was interpreted as “hammy self-applause for a successfully completed shot”, and Stevens remembered watching dailies in which the monsters suddenly surface, tear their heads off and yell” Goddammit, I’m drowning “

Outside of actor Henry Silva who played General Mercurio, it felt like the cast was pretty much sleepwalking through an episode that felt very much like a mini-sized schlock sci-fi flick of the era. The creature design was pretty good, but the story did them no favors – especially when the creature escapes containment (Thanks to those drunken stereotypes) and “makes a break for it”. It’s fearsome-looking enough, but its sluggish movements don’t really suggest it’s going to be much of a threat. So cue the table leg-breaking sonic powers!

P.S. This episode does score +1 for the scene in which the guy KO’s the creature while fighting it underwater. Not enough to get into the Top 10 (That, at this point, is looking more like a Top 5), but a memorable moment nevertheless.

Season 1, Episode 14, “The Zanti Misfits”

This episode was first broadcast December 30, 1963.

In 1997, TV Guide ranked this episode 98 on its “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time”.

This was the only episode in the entire series in which the aliens do not speak english.

The console featured in the control room was previously used in “O.B.I.T.”

This was one of the few instances where stop motion animation was used on television at the time given how pricey and time-consuming it was.

Burt Reynolds apparently turned down the role of Ben Garth.

In the original script, the action cuts out much sooner. The screen goes to black as we hear the first shot of the battle ring out before going to the closing voice-over. The action-packed battle they ended up shooting was incredibly time-consuming, but quite memorable.

Writer-Producer Joseph Stefano on his writing process: “I didn’t have the time to do treatments or outlines. I just made them up as I went along, according to a vision in my head, not a step-by-step formula, but more like a dream. This made my analysis more difficult. I’d no longer free-associate, but I ‘d correct and edit what I’d dreamt the previous night, and spin it into a tale! But this was great for my writing, though, and this was a very lush period for me .“

Ghost Town Street, a Western set on the MGM lot, was used as Morgue, California, while the exteriors of the Zanti landing zone were filmed at the Vasquez Rocks formations outside of Los Angeles.

I don’t know if this show has worn me down or I’ve come to lower my overall expectations, but I quite liked this episode. I thought the aliens were pretty creepy and I loved the fact that Bruce Dern’s character is discovered on his back with his limbs in the air like a dead bug. The final action sequence was pretty great as well, highlighted by that shot of the soldier tumbling down the stairs, swarming with bugs, then pitching himself across the room. As usual, the female characters could have used some work (specifically the bored housewife tagging along with the crook, then traipsing around the desert in her mink coat, being chased by alien bugs before being saved by the nerd) but, overall, one of the better outings.

Season 1, Episode 15, “The Mice”

This episode was first broadcast January 6, 1965.

Writer Joseph Stefano named the episode’s anti-hero, Chino Rivera, after his friend, actress and dancer Chita Rivera.

According to Stefano: “It was a problem when I’d get a script from a writer, and make my suggestions for changes, and then get back a second draft that was still not good. At that point, you have a choice. Either you give the writer another shot, or you take it home with you. Which most producers do, because you know it’s going to be faster to do it yourself when you need it for next week. You don’t have to offer a third rewrite, so I didn’t ask for one. I just did it the way I wanted it .“ As a fellow showrunner, I empathize.

The name of the alien was changed from Soterian to Chromoite.

The alien costume’s headpiece was made of poured slip rubber and solidified glue. It weighed between 70 and 150 lbs and had to be lowered onto stuntman Hugh Langtry using a block and tackle.

I really liked actress Diana Sands who didn’t really get a lot to do in the episode but nevertheless impressed. I couldn’t find out much about her but learned she stepped in to play the part of Doris in the 1964 Broadway comedy “The Owl and the Pussycat” after actress Kim Stanley bowed out. She played opposite Alan Alda and the casting provoked little controversy. Some ten years later, while shooting Willie Dynamite, Sands herself had to bow out after collapsing on set. She was replaced by her good friend Diahann Carroll. Sands was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died soon after, cutting short a promising career.

Actor Henry Silva returns (two episodes later) and delivers a great performance in what sadly turns out to be an equally subpar episode. I mean, what is going on here?! They allow this alien creature to have free reign of the grounds, not bothering to put a secret detail on it as it wanders off – and then, in one of the most hilarious sequences of this series to date, it returns undetected to eavesdrop on a conversation before stealthily shutting the door. Also, I understand times are tough but that place really needed to splurge on additional security. As for Potato-Lobster, I couldn’t help but feel the production could have done a better job with his overall appearance. But, to be fair, I don’t think it would have saved this episode.

Season 1, Episode 16, “Controlled Experiment”

This episode was first broadcast January 13, 1965.

This episode was apparently a backdoor pilot for a series chronicling the adventures of the Holmes and Watson-like fish-out-of-water aliens Phobos and Deimos. It was not picked up to series.

The alien ship that appears off the top (presumably to allay the concern of ABC executives who wanted to make sure the show’s sci-fi and monster elements were front and center) was one of two models built for Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957).

Leslie Stevens wrote the first draft of the script on a New York to LA flight. The episode took four and a half days to shoot at a cost of $100k. It was the cheapest episode the show produced and was written to address cost overruns. Stevens coined the term “bottle episode” for the cash-saving episode, likening it to pulling an episode out of a bottle like a genie.

“We had a lot of fun making that episode ,” said 1st AD Robert Justman. “Robert Fortier was an extremely funny man who could walk backwards, miming his actions in reverse and keeping his eyes dead-ahead while the others moved around him .“

Grace Lee Whitney would go on the achieve cult status as Star Trek’s Yeoman Janice Rand. She recalled: “Barry Morse and Carrol O’Connor got along famously on that show. Between takes, they’d sit right down to their chess game .“

Love Barry Morse and Carrol O’Connor and I’m a big fan of any time anomaly story but this episode came up a short for me because it was, ironically, too long. A tighter, half hour version would have been somewhat better. A middling outing notable for the fact that the two aliens seemingly damn the galaxy to destruction when all is said and done.

The post December 7, 2024: Our Outer Limits rewatch continues with season 1, episodes 13-16! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.

December 6, 2024: This and That!

How many cigarettes per day was 16-year-old Judy Garland encouraged to smoke in order to keep her weight down during filming of The Wizard of Oz (1939)?

[Answer at the end of today’s blog entry]

Akemi having dinner last night.

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It’s a miracle!

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Apparently an alien invasion was predicted for December 3rd.  I don’t watch network news so I may have missed it.

Answer to our trivia question: The answer is 80! 16-year-old Judy Garland was encouraged to smoke 80 cigarettes a day to keep her weight down during filming of The Wizard of Oz in addition to adhering to a strict diet of black coffee and chicken soup, and taking amphetamines to keep her focused on those long days and then barbiturates to help her sleep nights. Finally, to be extra sure, she was fitted with a corset.

The post December 6, 2024: This and That! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.