Joseph Baneth Allen's Blog, page 44

"Doctor Who #254 - Emissary Of The Daleks"

Just finished listening to "Doctor Who #254 - Emissary Of The Daleks" released by Big Finish Productions.
If only the BBC and Disney would take a page from Big Finish Productions when it comes to producing new Doctor Who stories. For the most part, the Big Finish Production audio productions adhere to the cannon of the classic Doctor Who series with the various companions and Doctors One through Seven and don't add Woke agenda - although a couple of episodes from Big Finish Productions Classic Range go heavy on the Woke.
On the planet Omnia, a young man leads the Sixth Doctor and Peri through the battle-scarred ruins of a city. Among the rubble he shows them proof that their invaders and new masters, thought to be invincible, can be defeated. The proof is the blasted, burnt-out remains of a Dalek. But this is a Dalek-occupied world like few others. For one thing,there are few Daleks to be seen. And for another,the Daleks have appointed an Omnian, Magister Carmen Rega, to govern the planet as their emissary. Why are the Daleks not present in force? And can the Doctor and Peri risk helping the Omnians, when the least show of resistance will be met with devastating reprisals from space?
What makes "Emissary Of The Daleks" a compelling audio drama is that is a character study of how the actions of one person who believes that they are acting for the greater good can go so horribly wrong.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.

This Island Earth

Just finished watching "This Island Earth" released by Universal Studios.
"This Island Earth" is one of the grand classics of B-movie science fiction films that came out of Hollywood from the 1950s.
Based on the novel of the same title by Raymond F. Jones, "This Island Earth" is most notable for humans being taken to the planet of Metaluna instead of dealing with an alien invasion here on Earth. It also introduces the concept of the conflicted alien, in this case Mr. Exeter, who helps his human captives escape. It also makes the Metalunans sympathetic by showing that they too are victims of a hostile aggressive alien race who is seeking to wipe them out.
Of interest to fans of Gilligan's Island, Russell Johnson, a.k.a. the professor, appears in this movie, which was produced by Joseph Newman, who was also produced "It Came From Beyond Outer Space" - another classic science fiction movie that Johnson had a role in.
Great Classic B-Movie Science Fiction Fun!
Strongly Recommended!
Five Stars!








https://www.amazon.com/This-Island-Ea...

Bagdad Cafe

Just finished watching "Bagdad Cafe" released by Island Pictures, and distributed by MGM.
When Mom, Dad, Selma Franz, and I first saw "Bagdad Cafe" about little over a year after it's initial run in theaters back in 1989 when the movie first debuted on cable either HBO or Showtime. Seeing a first run movie on cable used to be a very big event for most families back in the Dark Ages before there was such a notion of streaming services.
We knew that "Bagdad Cafe" was considered to be - and still is - an artsy cult movie with a devoted fan base and it wasn't our usual movie watching fare. Still we decided to give "Bagdad Cafe" a chance, and I'm still glad we did because oddly for a movie written and produced by a West German film director, it tells a tale steeped deep in the rich tradition of Jewish Hasidic story telling tradition where the faith and belief of one individual can have a tremendous impact on the people and world around them.
CCH Pounder plays the febrile, desperately unhappy Brenda running the Cafe in the desert; Marianne Sagebrecht is perfect as Jasmin, the frumpy German tourist dumped on the highway who walks into the cafe and brings the lost souls washed up there to life. Jack Palance plays an aging Hollywood screen painter who lives in a trailer and who finds his muse in the unlikely Jasmin.
"Bagdad Cafe" is a deeply spiritual story that is in a sense a retelling of Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones. The lifeless bones of the broken spirits of the cafe take flesh and grow again because of Jasmin who is willing to be just herself and who gives of herself the best she can.
"Bagdad Cafe" is quirky while it's providing key insights into human nature, and that's why it works and I still remember it with fondness because it is a reflection of life of people who find their joy again.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!

https://www.amazon.com/Bagdad-Cafe-Ma...

Condorman

Just finished watching "Condorman" released by Walt Disney Studios.
Walt Disney Studios was in a downward spiral back in the late 1970s, much like they are today, but for entirely different reasons. So to improve their bottom line, Walt Disney Studios decided to produce and release a series of PG rated movies that were met with mixed critical and financial success at the box office.
"Condorman" was one of those movies. Curiously, Walt Disney Studios stated that "Condorman" was "Suggested" by Robert Sheckly's counter-spy novel "The Game of X" which has a strong cult following.
Likewise, "Condorman" also has a strong cult following among Disney fans, in part due to the overall 1960s campiness and overall badness of the movie, which follows the misadventures of comic book publisher, writer, and illustrator Woodrow "Wood" Wilkins as he stumbles into international intrigue when a beautiful Soviet KGB agent requests his help in defecting to the West because of a series of misunderstandings that led her to believe that he is the highly lethal American Spy Condorman.
"Condorman" earned it's PG rating due to the "adult" jokes in the movie and it's portrayal of sexual desire.
"Condorman" bombed at the box office. It was released on DVD by Anchor Bay and then the Disney Movie Club, but is now out of print. I was fortunate enough to find a brand new mint, unopened still in shrink wrapped copy for jut $24.95 on Walmart.com - and no, I am not getting a percentage of the sales by mentioning where I got my copy of "Condorman" from. I'm just showing that it is possible to find something that is out-of-print for a reasonable price, provided you are willing to search for it.
Perhaps most the most memorable part of "Condorman" is the theme music and title song by the late, great Henri Mancini. And this is one of those rare pre-Phantom of the Opera performances by Michael Crawford where he's not singing.
It's worth noting the Disney has paid homage to "Condorman" over the years with visual references sprinkled throughout several movies, including the Toy Story franchise.
It would be amusing to see Disney's MCU make a reference to "Condorman" like "The Guardians of the Galaxy" did with Howard the Duck. [It would also be amusing to see Zack, my Number One Minion, dress up as Condorman - he and a bunch of his other friends dress up as superheroes and visit children in hospitals.]
Here's the odd thing about "Condorman": Walt Disney Studios had previously proven that they could do an adult spy movie "The Omega Connection" which was released in theaters overseas as "The London Connection" for their weekly Wonderful World of Walt Disney television show and have that movie be a huge ratings success and have a successful theater run overseas.
Even then, Disney didn't want to learn the lessons of its successes and failures.
"Condorman" is an interesting part of Disney movie history.
Sadly though, NOT RECOMMENDED.
Two Stars for what Walt Disney Studios attempted, but failed.









https://www.amazon.com/Condorman-Mich...

The Temple of Jupiter Ammon

Just finished "The Temple of Jupiter Ammon" released by The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society.
Based on the wildly popular success of their previous release of their adaptation of the "Masks of Nyarlathotep" in their Dark Adventure Radio Theatre," the team at the HPLHS' created, wrote, and brought to life the archaeological adventure yarn "The Temple of Jupiter Ammon" the brilliantly mixes actual historical people, places, and events within the realm of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
"The Temple of Jupiter Ammon," written by by Sean Branney and Andrew Leman, opens at a glitzy fund raising event at the Geographical Society where the notorious treasure hunter Count Byron Khun de Prorok is promoting and fund raising for an expedition into the Libyan Desert in an attempt to find the lost tomb of Alexander the Great at the Temple of Jupiter Ammon.
Byron Khun de Prorok was an entirely real person who wrote four books describing his globe-trotting archaeological adventures in the 1920s and '30s. His efforts were very well publicized during his lifetime, although his reputation nosedived in following years and he is now pretty much forgotten. Lovecraft does make a passing mention in a letter.
Whatever his faults as an archaeologist might have been, Prorok really was a pioneer in the use of motion pictures and aerial photography in archaeology. Most of the films he made have been lost. Lots of the details in this episode came from His book "Mysterious Sahara" provided a lot of the background material for the creative team at Dark Adventure Radio Theater" for this tale.
What I found interesting is that the HPLHS proudly notes that no AI was used to create the prop materials that accompany this tale. In other words, old fashioned human intellect, imagination, and creativity created this tale. In other words, the HPLHS is proudly proclaiming - and rightly so - that they didn't and don't cheat.
"The Temple of Jupiter Ammon" is a splendid weaving of real life history and of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!








https://www.hplhs.org/darttja.php

Five Weeks In A Balloon

Just finished watching "Five Weeks In A Balloon" released by 20th Century Fox.
Curiously, "Five Weeks In A Balloon" is Irwin Allen's - no relation - last foray into producing and directing feature films in the 1960s
It was produced and directed by Irwin Allen; his last feature film in the 1960s before moving to television to create and produce "Lost In Space, " "The Time Tunnel," "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea," and "Land of the Giants." Allen would return to feature films in the 1970s before returning back to television.
"Five Weeks In a Balloon" is perhaps not one of Jules Verne's well known novels.
Verne's novel "Five Weeks in a Balloon, or, A Journey of Discovery by Three Englishmen in Africa" was published in 1863 and is the quintessential adventure novel by Verne,. It is the first novel in which he perfected the "ingredients" of his later work, skillfully mixing a story line full of adventure and plot twists that keep the reader's interest through passages of technical, geographic, and historic description. The novel gives readers a glimpse of the exploration of Africa, which was still not completely known to Europeans of the time, with explorers traveling all over the continent in search of its secrets.
Naturally, Allen's film adaptation only adheres to the basic bare bones plot of Verne's original novel.
Allen's version of "Five Weeks In A Balloon" is a race against time by a trio of British explorers who are commissioned by the British Government to defeat a convoy of slave traders heading toward uncharted land near the Volta River in West Africa. The slavers aim to stake their claim within six weeks and take over the territory.
Peter Lorre is cast in the role of a slave trader, and Barbara Eden and Red Buttons also star in this movie, along with Fabian, and Barbara Luna - who perhaps is best known for her role as Lt. Marlena Moreau in the classic Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror".
"Five Weeks In A Balloon" is standard lighthearted fun of a 1960s film of the era.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.







https://www.amazon.com/Five-Weeks-Bal...

"The Hillary Caine Mysteries - Here's To Crime"

Just finished listening to "The Hillary Caine Mysteries - Here's To Crime" released by Radio Spirits.
Confession time! As regular and frequent of my reviews here on Facebook, Goodreads, and other social media sites know, I always am forthcoming when I have a connection with a writer, actor, director, musician, and/or artist whose work I am reviewing. Although Larry Albert and I have never met in person, we have exchanged messages here on Facebook over the years. Larry brings life to Sgt. Talmadge in this series.
Currently, and a bit sadly, "The Hilary Caine Mysteries" only has 22 episodes to date, though more are supposed to be produced with another actress stepping into the role of Hilary Caine. This latest release of a Jim French Production by Radio Spirits collects the final 11 episodes of Karen Haven's run as the free-spirited detective Hilary Caine.
One of my frequent criticisms of Radio Spirits is that for reasons unknown to me, that they do not include a booklet detailing the history behind each Jim French Production that they release. Now to be fair, Jim French Productions does have a website that does provide in-depth information on each of its productions and there might be something contractual preventing Radio Spirits from producing and including mini-histories in each of the Jim French Productions that they release.
There could also be a bit of snobbery going on as well. Modern takes of classic art forms are usually snubbed by collectors. A good case in point is the series of Big Little Books that were published by Barbour. While the Big Little Books published by Moby/Walden are tolerated by collectors of Big Little Books, the Barbour Big Little Books are not viewed as "true" Big Little Books due to their religious content, even though they follow the format of "Golden Age" Big Little Books.
This could be the case here with Jim French Productions. Because Jim French Productions are original modern takes of Radio's Golden Age, radio historians simply haven't put much effort into preserving and presenting the history, which is a shame because preserving the oral histories of those involved in Jim French Productions is a unique opportunity that will eventually be lost as time progress.
Hilary Caine was created by British mystery novelist M.J. Elliot. And here's where pamphlet chronicling the history of the show would have been much appreciated. These last 11 episodes with Karen Heaven in the role of Hilary Caine range from the beginning of her career in the 1920s to sometime after World War Two, where it's hinted that Hilary worked in British Counter Espionage during the war. There is a hint in those later-in-her-life stories that her relationship with Inspector Finn soured, and in a blink-and-you-miss-hearing-it moment, Finn got married to someone else and Hilary wistfully hopes and prays he's happy and doing well.
My favorite episodes are: "Dead To The World," "Here's To Crime" "Fashionably Late," "Bare Bones," and "Practice To Deceive."
Here's hoping to more murder mysteries being solved by the unsinkable Hilary Caine!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!







https://store.radiospirits.com/the-hi...

Superman '78

Just finished reading "Superman '78" by Robert Venditti, Wilfredo Torres, and Jordie Bellaire, published by DC.
Oh what could have been if director Richard Donner had not been interfered with on the original Superman movies that starred the late Christopher Reeve and late Margot Kidder.
Building on the success of it's previous comic runs of Batman '66 and Wonder Woman '77, "Superman '78" deftly captures the magic of the first two original Superman movies from the late 1970s and gives us a peak into how Brainiac would have been introduced into that Donner's era of the Superman cinematic universe.
"Superman '78" opens on the last moments of Krypton as Jor-El and Lara are prepared to accept their fate as the star ship carrying Kal-El, the last survivor of Krypton safely to Earth when Brainiac rescues a part of Krypton's population as part of his collection.
As years pass, Kal-El, now in his dual identity of Clark Kent and Superman, responds to an emergency in Metropolis where Brainiac's robot have been dispatched to college the rouge Krypton element on Earth - Superman.
Brainiac offers Superman a deal - leave Earth and become a party f his Kryptonian exhibit - or he will destroy Earth. Superman takes the deal and discovers something he couldn't ever hope to expect - his birth parents alive and well in the bottle city of Kandor.
To rescue Superman, Lois Lane must turn to the one man she can not trust - Lex Luthor.
Strongly Recommended!
Five Stars!







https://www.amazon.com/Superman-78-Ro...

Storm Over Warlock

Just finished reading "Storm Over Warlock" by Andre Norton, published by ACE Books.
With perhaps the exception of her long running Witch World series, Andre Norton is not known for writing trilogies. Andre's tales and series frequently were either two and/or four books in length, the best examples being her original "Time Traders" quartet and "The Zero Stone" duet.
"Storm Over Warlock" is often seen as the first book in the Forerunner quintet series - and I'm going to risk being censored here by pointing out that the Forerunners are a consistent thread in a majority of Andre's novels that feature the Patrol - the law enforcement arm of her far flung galactic empire. So I don't know if you can specifically place just five of her novels in a "Forerunner" sequence. "Forerunner" and "Forerunner: The Second Venture" are examples of Andre's preference for writing her stories across two volumes and take place far, far away from Warlock.
I consider "Storm Over Warlock" to the first book in Warlock Duet. Andre never makes one reference about the Forerunners, who ruled the galaxy before disappearing millenniums prior to the rise of humanity in "Storm Over Warlock" - though there are hints of a prior high tech civilization on the planet and that the descendants still can access that technology. Shann Lantee, who is the sole human survivor of a Throg attack on the Terran survey camp, never once makes reference to the Forerunners - though Andre alludes to Lantee being a possible Beast Master with his ability to communicate with Taggi and Togi - two wolverines - and he does have latent telepathic abilities as well. The Wyverns of Warlock, who are are female, hint of being a precursor of Andre's Witch World with their shock of a Man being able to wield mental power similar to their own. The Wyvern males are mindless idiots who are controlled by the females.
Here's what makes "Storm Over Warlock" groundbreaking and shocking - Shan Lantee is a black man who is the hero of a science fiction novel written in 1960 by a white woman who was "hiding" in plain sight by using a "male" pseudonym in order to appear masculine for a majority of her readers and boost the sales of her books.
Lantee describes himself as being much darker than Ragnar Thorvald - the survey pilot he rescues - and twice the narrative mentions his tightly curled black hair. Though you could make an argument that he is also Jewish based on the knowledge that he grew up in a slum/ghetto of a world called Tyr. [I had tight curly hair when I was younger, and I have a slight Middle Eastern complexion.] It should be pointed out that the original book cover for the hardcover edition of "Storm Over Warlock" published by The World Publishing Company portrays Lantee as white.
Confession time. I was shocked when I learned that Andre Norton was a woman in the early 1970s. I had incorrectly assumed that she was male because my first language was French, not English and Andre is a masculine name in French. [And in the full interest of disclosure, Andre was kind enough to correspond back and forth with me the old fashioned way - handwritten and typed letters.]
Lantee being Black was a watershed moment in Western Science Fiction and that's why he's a ground breaking character.
Here's the "shocking" part of "Storm Over Warlock." Lantee can be viewed as a gay character. Thorvald is a blonde, buff, and built like a solid rock and Lantee falls in love with him at first sight.
Throughout "Storm Over Warlock," Lantee obsesses over Thorvald’s physical beauty. It’s this obsession that saves him when he’s captured by the Throgs. He constructs an idealized mental image of Thorvald and manages to make psychic contact with the pilot.
It's not the first time that Andre placed an interracial man-to-man gay romance heavily hinted at in her novels. In "Star Man's Son," Fors sleeps naked alongside Arskane and declares how much he loves his companion. Keep in mind that "Star Man's Son" was published in 1952 during the Red Scare and the Pink Scare.
Notice I said Lantee could be viewed as a gay character. While Andre hints at a romance between and gives Lantee a future with Thorvald in the survey, she never comes out and reveals a sexual relationship between them. Love takes many forms, and Andre could have been expressing what she thought was the natural camaraderie between men. To the best of my knowledge, she never stated any of her characters were explicitly gay and there is no record of her every having said that she wrote coded gay characters.
There is always a danger of wanting to see what you want to see.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.








https://www.ebay.com/itm/295558286377...

Tex: Captain Jack

Just finished reading "Tex: Captain Jack" by Cito Faraci and Enrique Brecia, published by Epicenter Comics.
Because Tex is an Italian comic - releases by Epicenter Comics are in English - I will provide a little background on this decades old comic book series.
Tex Willer is the main fictional character of the Italian comics series Tex, created by writer Gian Luigi Bonelli and illustrator Aurelio Galleppini, and first published in Italy on September 30 1948. It is among the most popular characters of Italian comics, with translations to numerous languages all around the world.
Tex's first adventure appeared on 30 September 1948, as a comic strip. At Tex is an unwillingly outlaw who was framed for a crime he did not commit, and who with a strong code of honor: he kills only for self-defense.
Tex's goal is to become a Texas Ranger. Thanks to the marriage with the beautiful Navajo girl Lilyth, he becomes Chief of the Navajos, known as Aquila della Notte (Eagle of the Night), and a defender of Native American rights. He also becomes the respected Indian agent of the Navajo tribe. He is also a blood brother to Cochise.
Tough, loyal, infallible with guns, enemy of prejudice and discrimination, Tex is very quick and smart, and has a marked disregard for strict rules; on the other side, he has no pity for criminals, of every race and census, nor regard for their rights, if they do not immediately cooperate with the law.
"Tex: Captain Jack," takes place many years after Tex's days of the run from being unjustly accused of being an outlaw. He is a Texas Ranger, he and his best friend Kit Carson are summoned to the bedside of a friend and fellow former Texas Ranger who is dying as a result of being ambushed by Indians.
Tex and Kit promise to bring the killers of their friend and his family to justice.
Many of Tex's fictional adventures are set against the background of actual historical events and "Captain Jack" is a fairly accurate betrayal of the events surrounding the Battle of Lost River, where Captain Jack Captain Jack and several other Modocs drew their pistols in unison and killed two leading members of the government commission, including General Edward Canby during a peace parley.
The killings resulted in the US government sending in over 1,000 reinforcement troops, and the soldiers attacked Captain Jack's stronghold with superior forces and successfully evicted the Modocs from their safe haven.
On October 3, 1873, Captain Jack was hanged for the murder of General Canby.
"Tex: Captain Jack" is a very compelling tale.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!






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