September 8, 2024 • 48 mins
Get ready to rethink everything you knew about comic book movies. They're not a recent phenomenon! Join us as we explore the rich history of comics in film, starting from the late 1880s up to the groundbreaking release of "Batman" in 1989. Discover how early comic book adaptations shaped pop culture long before today's blockbuster hits and how the infamous "Seduction of the Innocent" almost derailed the entire industry.
Ever heard of Golden Bat, the superhero who predates Superman and Batman? We'll take you on a journey through forgotten classics like the 1950 tokusatsu film and other early comic book adaptations, recounting personal anecdotes and cultural impacts. We also delve into the significant influence of Osamu Tezuka, the father of modern manga, and the uncanny parallels between his work and Disney’s "The Lion King." Enjoy a nostalgic trip through characters like Prince Valiant, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, and Dennis the Menace, as we discuss their evolution from comic strips to the silver screen.
Jumping into the 60s and beyond, we analyze iconic TV shows and movies like the Green Hornet, "Barbarella," and "Modesty Blaise." We also reflect on the enduring legacy of the Incredible Hulk, Little Orphan Annie, Swamp Thing, and Conan the Barbarian. Through all this, we stress the importance of supporting your local comic shops and engaging with the comic book community. From humorous insights to critical reflections, this episode promises a captivating discussion on the enduring influence of comic books in film and pop culture.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's eight.
This is why we can't do it.
Yeah, you got to be a hardtarget, okay.
That's just what I'm sayingWait, no, that was Jean-Claude.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
That was.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Jean-Claude, I'm switching it up.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
You can't do that.
That's not the premise of thething.
What?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
What you're saying.
There's no body doubles here.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Well, look, there might be a double impact, but
there's no.
This is why you can't do that.
We have to stick to one or theother.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Hey, I'm no cyborg, all right.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'll do what I want.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I can't do it.
I feel like this is under siege.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Don't worry.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
We're in dark territory here.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I've got a license to drive, so you don't have to
give me that.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
No no, no, you can't do that.
You cannot do that.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
No, his brain is exploding.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
You are breaking our rules.
God, this is holy ground.
You can't do that.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Where we're going.
We don't need rules.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Gentlemen, let's broaden our minds.
Are they in the proper approachpattern for today?
Negative, all weapons.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Now Charge the lightning field, please, for our
audience and also, secretly,for me, exactly what is the
premise of this miniseries.
Is it about comic book historyor is it about are you just
(01:36):
giving background to certaincomic book movies?
Yes, okay, crystal clear.
There we go.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Essentially, this is the second part.
Please listen to part one ifyou'd like to hear from the uh,
I think late 1880s up until the19 1940s, some here's a whole
thing about the plight of theurban proletariat.
It's uh quite engrossing well,someone's got to knock those
bourgeoisie down a peg right.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, I mean we finally got past feudalism.
So I kind of woke up and waslike, oh okay, now Industrial
Revolution, cool, it's like theBorg always said yes.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
But no, this is the second part in the series
talking about the history ofcomics, comic strips, the comic
medium and its adaptation intofilm, and how important and how
resilient it has been in the popculture psyche from the very
beginning of movies till today.
We will stop before we get totoday, but that is the idea, so
(02:38):
that we can kind of dispel thismyth that comic movies are the
death of us and once we get ridof these things we'll rock it
off into a grand new spectacleof filmmaking.
Comic books have always beenhere in the film and they will
always be here in some form orfashion, and this is just kind
of laying out the history ofthat with sprinkling some other
(02:59):
details.
Uh, in the midst of all of that.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I think we witnessed the peak saturation, at least of
that genre.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
If we're talking about, say, per capita or even
per dollar spent.
If there are seven movies andone of them is a superhero movie
, you know that's like how manymovies.
Or if, like, there were onehundred dollars spent and thirty
dollars of those went to comicmovies, you know that's probably
(03:27):
about where we're at currently.
It's tough because there aren'trecords of movie going numbers
in 1910.
Sure, lazy, it's because theyweren't lazy that comics to film
up on those uh early talkies,um up on the uh the
(03:49):
reel-to-reels they were puttingup.
At that time comics were amajor part of film absolutely.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, that's true, but I mean, but like as yes,
you're right um, but again itjust like post-Seduction of the
Innocent, where comics were kindof stripped down of any depth,
they were relegated to justbeing kid fair and the history
and the prominence of comics wastaken out of culture, never
really to gain back what it was.
(04:17):
It's grown in a different wayfrom, say, the 80s onward, but
it's always been relegated tosecond tier, low class
entertainment.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Yes, or kid oriented or dump down entertainment.
I've made this example before,but I think it's mostly apt in
this specific application thatwhen I went to see Batman 89, I
remember being in the audienceand a bunch of drunk teenage
kids were in the front row.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
They weren't turtles and ninjas were they.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Well, they might have been one or the other.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
It's hard to say.
If it's not at least three ofthe four, then I don't really
care.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Well then, it's not a real outing, it's not, it
doesn't count.
In the actual writing there'san asterisk next to it.
But they were obviously drunk,even though it was like I don't
know, like one.
In the afternoon Before themovie started they got up and
mockingly singing the Batman 66theme song, you know, because
that was the last incarnation ofBatman we had until 89.
(05:19):
And so their only memory andtheir only impression of
characters like batman were campcheese sub.
It wasn't cool, he wasconsidered lowbrow or childish.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
But then, when that movie started, oh man, they shut
the fuck up well, that'sfitting because, for my intents
and purposes, once we hit 89, Ithink things definitively change
.
Yes, I think the way that comicbook films are approached, the
way the medium is approachedafter that, and the viability of
comics on film and what theycan mean for the industry as a
(05:55):
whole, I think, completelyskyrockets to a different
stratosphere.
Which is why I think we don'tnecessarily need to get past
that my history stopping up intothat.
We don't necessarily need toget in past that my history
stopping up into that.
So we kind of get a sense ofhow things used to be rather
than how we've experienced itfor the past 40 years.
All right, so last time, onDispatch Ajax, we had just
finished up with the 1940sCaptain America series.
(06:19):
Now let's jump into the fire.
There is a fire down below thatwe've got to get into my
friends.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
We can continue with Steve Seagal, but that's a
rabbit hole.
We don't want to continue.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
No, mostly because we're going to get slapped.
Yeah, but as long as we stay onthe other side of the booth, we
should be fine.
Or a dangerous trap, Alright in1945, Dale Messick created the
intrepid young teenage reporterBrenda Starr Redhead.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Sorry.
Oh shit, I fucked that up, Igotta go to the bathroom real
quick, do you really?
No, no, I don't.
Oh, okay, I just have a thingfor redhead.
Sorry, that's a joke.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Oh yeah, he's got a thing Sorry.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Boner.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
He's got a boner.
That's how they say it inAlbania.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
In Canada it's called a boner.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Ike being boner.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
That's kind of a deep cut Kind of, and the weird
mashup too, but I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yeah, actually she was created in 1940, but she
made her big screen debut in1945 in a 13-chapter Columbia
serial directed by journeymanWallace Fox, willie Fox, billy
journeyman wallace fox um withthe leading willie fox, billy uh
(08:00):
star uh.
Joan woodbury uh it hadmoderate to middling success.
Uh, it did uh spawn a 1989version.
Uh, brendarr, which spoilerwe'll talk about in a little bit
more depth later on.
Not this podcast, anotherpodcast the future.
Listen in the future is whatI'm saying everybody.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
That's not really a spoiler.
I guess We'll talk about thatlater.
How about that?
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah.
Anyway, yeah keep going, yeah,anyway, yeah, keep going, yeah.
Now let's get into ainteresting.
So a lot of genre was happening.
Let us travel into Japan andtalk about Ogon Bat, otherwise
(08:58):
known as the Golden Bat, or alsoknown as Phantom man.
orantom us in various countriesoutside of japan now, this is
japanese superior that's createdby suzuki chiro and takeo
nagamatsu, uh in the autumn of1930, um, and originally
(09:18):
appeared, uh, in kamishibai,which is paper theater kind of
like you'd have imagine, likeSesame Street or someone's up
here and he's next to like alittle stage area, but there
will be paper, kind of like acomic book page, and then
(09:40):
they'll turn to the next pageand it will be dialogue and
they'll turn the next page andit will be a thing so like these
paper cards paired withscripted performances by
narrator.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, it's a little bit like pantomime, like Punch
and Judy, but kind of also likea silent film.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Yes, yes, very much like that.
Now, ogon Bat, or the GoldenBat by many, or at least by some
, might be considered theworld's first superhero, again
coming out in 1930, that's eightyears before the debut of
Superman, and there was alive-action adaptation of the
Ogon Bat.
Ogon Bat, the Golden Bat, was apopular character in all of
(10:18):
Japanese pop culture, includingmanga, anime, japanese films, as
well as toys and posters.
Same thing back to 1932.
Hentai, why don't you dig alittle deeper and see what you
can find yourself?
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Well, I'll bet to get there.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
So the Golden Bat, the Phantom of the Skyscraper,
is a 1950 tokusatsu filmproduced by Tokio Igae Hagio,
former Toei.
It's a lot going on in thattitle now, aside from stills
that were supposedly takenduring the film shooting.
The original film is nowconsidered to be lost.
Media uh, there just aren't anyprints of it left oh, so it
(10:57):
happened to dr who too.
Yeah, it's uh, it's rough butjust to give you an idea of what
the film was, dr Ogata, thediscoverer of the Ultron super
atom, which produces a power fargreater than that of the
hydrogen bomb, is targeted bythe evil QX gang and the leader,
dr.
Notso Not.
Nazi, notso Not so bad.
(11:19):
Hey, he's not so bad, he's nice, not so bad.
Hey, he's not so bad, he's nice.
The QX gang, wait, the QX gang.
Oh no, Attempted to use this fora different purpose, however.
Golden Bat, the monster ofjustice kick-ass name Fuck yeah
had shown up to fight and stoptheir evil plan.
(11:40):
Now, in 1966, toei made anotherlive-action Golden Bat film
After this one.
The latter doesn't apparentlyshare continuity with the
previous film.
Oh good I love that when thathappens, but nobody can see the
previous film anyway, so whocares?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Oh, so now it's an Evil Dead scenario.
Okay, eh.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Well, both are good.
Por que no los dos, but por queno los dos?
It was also later adapted intopopular anime TV series in 1967,
which was then released invarious European and Latin
American countries.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
No, no anime existed before it came to America Period
.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Oh, okay cool.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
The first anime was Vampire Hunter T end of story.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
It's Ninja Scrolls.
I won't hear any different.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
It premiered on Toonami, and that's that.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, but it's fascinating that the Golden Bat
may well be the first superheroin mass popular culture, at
least in the form that we knowthem as superheroes.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
So you're saying this is pre-Superman.
This is eight years beforeSuperman, Right?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
right right.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
And long before Batman.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
But it's also in the Phantom era, correct?
Speaker 1 (12:51):
The Phantom.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
No, in that mysterious Phantom zone of time.
That was pretty too old.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Stop talking about that period of time.
Technically, this is pre-ThePhantom, so this is 1930.
So the Phantom debuted in 1936.
Okay, that's really reallyinteresting.
Pre the Phantom, so this is1930.
So the Phantom debuted in 1936.
Okay, that's really reallyinteresting.
All right, and Shadow 1931.
So again, that's a year afterthis.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Wow, that's incredible yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah, pretty cool.
That's one of the things Ifound in my digging for this pod
.
Now, moving on, I found her inmy digging for this pod.
Now we're moving on Again.
We'll talk about Black Hawk, alesser creation of Chuck Quidra,
Bob Powell and Will Eisner.
Again, it created in 1940 forQuality Comics and later came to
DC.
It had a 1952 serial of thesame name, directed by Spencer
Gordon Bennett and Fred F Sears.
(13:37):
I didn't know that it did.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Now I want to see that.
Well, I'll allow it.
Send me to your forms induplicate.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
In an isolated section of the Southwest United
States, a hidden airport secretbase of cleverly designed planes
which appear conventional butare powered with super engines,
headquarters of the Blackhawks,guardians of the peace who do
not use guns but meet armedviolence with superior skill and
strength.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Weird connection.
First actor list out Superman'sown, Kirk Allen oh.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
One of the main.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Blackhawks An early example of actors playing
multiple comic book roles.
Next we'll get the 1954 HalFoster Prince Valiant comic
strip turned into a movie.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Father, it's all clear.
It's Baltar.
I started watching PrinceValiant and it starts off with a
voiceover and I'm like, oh mygod, that's a really familiar
voice.
I know who that is.
I refuse to look it up.
It's Michael.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Rennie Klaatu from the Day the Earth Stood Still.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Oh, that's wild.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
He's got such a distinct voice.
Prince Valiant debuted in 1937as a full-color Sunday feature,
and continues to this day, yes,but it was transferred to screen
by Henry Hathaway and a youngRobert Wagner as Prince Valiant
himself.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
That's really funny because I actually went to when
I was reporting.
I was waiting for a Marvelpanel in a smaller room.
It was like sort of anexperiment they were doing
because I talked to a Marvelexec after that.
It was like sort of anexperiment they were doing
because I talked to a Marvelexec after that.
But I went with my dad andliterally across the hall,
anthony Bourdain was hosting hisJiro Dreams of Sushi panel and
(15:33):
I'm sitting in a panel for the75th anniversary of Prince
Valiant waiting for this nextpanel to start.
My dad literally falls asleepin his chair waiting.
I'd say I was the youngestperson in that room by four
decades.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all.
Yeah, yeah, I don't think I'veseen a Prince Valiant fan under
the age of 50.
Minimum.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Right, it's like trying to find a Civil War vet
Like it's just not aroundanymore.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, when you turn 50 as a white male, you have
three paths you have World WarII buff, you have Civil War buff
, or you have Prince Valiant fan.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Prince Valiant fan.
Those are three options, that'sit.
That's it, two of which can befound on the History Channel.
The other one, you have to be ona very specific basketball I'm
sure now there's a streamingservice just devoted for that
just just for old men fallingasleep, to prince valiant, which
, by the way, they do riff on inspace balls, which very few
(16:34):
people, I think.
For a lot of people our age.
That was our first introductionto that, because my dad
explained the joke to me when Isaw that and I was like like oh,
okay, and now nobody knows whothe fuck Prince Valiant is, even
though it's still going.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Oh, yeah, yeah, no, again, it's still.
Are you in your 60s or 70s as awhite male?
Then you get something in themail that says do you know about
Prince Valiant?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Then this podcast is for you.
Do you read Prince Valiant?
Do you read Prince Valiant?
Splits his head open, gets shotby police.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
In two or three generations Prince Valiant will
just be a bedtime story thatthey say to their kids.
But it wasn't a bedtime storyin 1997 because there was
another film made about PrinceValiant, directed by Anthony
Hickox and starring StephenMoyer in the title role there.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
The Stephen Moyer, the Stephen role there, the
Stephen Moyer, the Stephen Moyer.
Wow, what a get.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Indeed.
Another get, probably a littlemore sultry one this time, would
be Sheena, queen of the Jungle,also created by Will Eisner and
Jerry Iger in 1937.
Now it got some screen time ina television series the same
name.
That ran from 1955 to 1956.
So a season it was 26 episodes.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
It didn't run from anything, it had a season.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It crept around on the small screen for all 26
episodes.
It showed up for one season forall 26?
Uh, it showed up for one season, but it then did have a film in
1984 starring tanya roberts, ofa view to a kill or beastmaster
fame.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Oh, not bridget nelson.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
No, no like you would say that's uh, I think she was
sonya eating it in the redvariety at that point it's true
next we have dennis the menace,who first appeared as a comic
strip and in comic books in 1951, but came to the small screen
with highly successfultelevision series that ran four
seasons, from 59 to 63, a totalof 146 episodes.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
You know my father.
His nickname when he was a kidwas Dennis the Menace, not just
because his name's Dennis, buthe did a lot of let's call it
mischief.
He burned down their house atone point.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Well, Mr Weatherby was a piece of shit, so he
deserved that.
So was Mr Wilson.
Mr Weatherby, that was Archie,wasn't it?
Yep?
Speaker 3 (18:56):
The fact that we both instantaneously knew these
things is part and parcel of whyour only recourse and outlet
for being people is this show Hi, only friend.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Skip across the screen.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Is Mr Wilson a dumbass?
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Dennis also had a couple other well, we'll say,
poorly received feature films.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Oh yeah, Was that Macaulay Culkin?
No, it was.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Sunkid, I'm thinking of Richie.
Rich, you were thinking of therich man.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
He's a boy.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
You know who's not a boy Osama Tezuka.
In fact, osama Bin Laden.
Not Bin Laden, but Tezuka isconsidered to be the father of
modern manga.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Are you sure Osama considered to be the father of
modern manga?
Are you sure that Bin Ladenwasn't the father of modern
manga?
Because I remember that stashand stuff that the CIA found.
Oh no, he just watched a lot ofHentai.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Never mind Potato to made him.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, it's true.
Yeah, love Tom and Jerry.
Now, he's not the sole creator,but he was quite prolific and
innovative in both his outputand what he wrote about how.
So Don't ask stupid questions,skip my fault.
Look it up, it's called theIntertubes.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Look it up Now.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Tezuka was widely influenced by early works of
Walt Disney, specifically Bambiin 1942 and Snow White in 1937.
In fact, mein Kampf, that's whyThumper has that little
mustache.
Oh, okay, and you have theTenth Dwarf, who just keeps
zig-hailing the whole time.
He's always in the background.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
That was probably.
Nobody knows what happened tothe Eighth and Ninth Dwarves,
but I'm guessing that they werereturned.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
That is a literal conspiracy that never happened.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
It's like all the movies previous to Leonard, part
6.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yeah, Where's my part ?
Four truthers, huh, where areyou at?
Make your small change movieabout that, about Ghost Dad?
Yeah, but he was influenced bythe large eyes, which kind of
gave him a bit of that stylethat has proliferated through
(21:14):
manga ever since.
Maybe, 1950 to 1954, mangaseries Jungle Emperor Leo and
its subsequent anime adaptationKimba the White Lion 1965 to
1967, was the first animeproduced in color.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Kimba the White Supremacist.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Ironically so.
The adventures of the WhiteLion Kimba is a story of the
lion who seeks to succeed hisfather as king of the jumble.
King of the jumble.
Of the jumble, the jumble uh,king of the jungle, the jumble.
That's the, the jumble.
Yes, uh, he had to get aroundthe word scramble first can we
just say like okay, come on.
(21:54):
Yeah, so simba yes, there wascontroversy ever since, because
a lot of people mostly rightlypoint out that the Lion King
from 1994 and how many otherversions they've had ever since,
there's a new one coming out in2024.
What, yeah, live action sequel.
Again, I don't know how it canbe live action if there's no
(22:15):
actual live animals or people init.
100% correct.
I don't get it.
It doesn't make any sense to me?
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Well, it doesn't make sense at all.
No.
The sequel to the last remake,so-.
Are those also going to godirect to video?
No, this is a prequel.
This is a prequel of how-.
Oh my God, what was Simba's?
Speaker 1 (22:36):
father's name, mufasa .
This is Mufasa's story story ofhow he watched anime about a
white lion and he startedwriting down the script.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
I guarantee you that how they got away with it was
because it's just hamlet.
Everything else is coincidental.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Our source material is hamlet, which is in public
domain it's also a hey, here's,uh, at that time, an obscure
animated film from 1965.
Who's going to know?
Come at the King, come at theLion King.
Yeah, and they got away with it, and I don't think there's been
any.
I'd have to look up.
(23:14):
But again, hey guys, go checkit out.
If you didn't know, do your ownresearch.
The Lion King is essentially aripoff of Kimba the White Lion.
One.
Go see Kimba the White Lion.
There are plenty of differences, granted, but it's a little too
on the nose to overlook.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
It's still obvious.
Yeah, and also, if you didn'tknow, it was Hamlet.
Please read Thor.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Now, coming back to America, we have the Green
Hornet Now.
Originally this was a radioprogram conceived by George W
Trendle back in 1936.
George W Bush, but made itsdebut in comic form in 1940 and
became the subject of at leasttwo Universal serials Serials
Ford and Beebe and Ray Taylor'sthe Green Hornet, 1940.
(24:01):
And the Green Hornet strikesagain, 1941.
It's not just a clever name,Not just he was back and greener
than ever.
If you don't know, the GreenHornet, a wealthy man becomes a
crime fighter, aided by hissidekick Kato.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
His problematic sidekick yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah, and because of the success of Batman, william
Dozer, the producer, tried torecreate some of that with the
Hornet kind of updating that,and then had Van Williams and
some guy named Bruce Leestarring as Kato.
Again, lasted only one season,1966-67.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
But there's a great scene about this in Dragon, the
Bruce Lee story, where he andhis wife are at a wrap party for
the end of Creed Hornet andit's announced that the show's
cancelled.
But he's the only one notdisappointed, because he has
pitched Kung Fu, which does notend up well for him.
(24:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
But long after his death, unfortunately, warrior,
which is now currently streamingon netflix at this exact moment
maybe not when you're listeningto the podcast I'm watching it
right now yeah, warrior is great.
It's a great tv show I told youit was good.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
I told you it was good.
No, I saw this years ago.
I said I was watching it.
You said I was looking intothat.
Is it good?
I was like, yeah, you shouldwatch it.
It was just kind of a standardfair conversation, but still,
that's how it happened.
I think I was watching it.
Who is it that has bettermemory?
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Let's just step back, okay, you do have better memory
, but you also have plenty offalse memories.
So it's a little bit of columnA, column B Everybody has false
memories folks, we're nevergonna get to the bottom of this.
There's no way we couldpossibly know so instead, we
(25:54):
should talk about barbarella.
It sounds like we recorded anyof it.
Yeah, yeah, go back to thetapes oh, I'll go to the tapes.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
I'll scour the tapes you know what?
Speaker 1 (26:05):
I'm gonna go to the mattress and see how that works
out for you, so uh, barbarella.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
So anyway, barbarella anyway.
So what about barbarella foryou?
So Barbarella.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
So anyway.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Barbarella.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
So anyway, what?
Speaker 3 (26:15):
about Barbarella.
That's the new anyway here'sWonderwall.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
So Barbarella was a comic character serialized in
the French magazine V V Magazineby Jean-Claude Forrest in 1962.
It was later produced in itsown standalone features, but in
1968 there was a classic filmadaptation by roger vadim
starring jane fonda there you goyou know, maybe go check it out
, because this is kind of atravels through a galaxy on
adventures and, you know, kindof wild sexual.
(26:52):
You know, um, it's a gas man,it's a gas, it's a bonkers still
um.
They're remaking, they'remaking a new vision of
barbarella.
I don't want it.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
I think we should just leave it alone.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
That is one of the horniest movies I have ever seen
and that's dealing with theepaa back then I haven't seen it
since I was a kid, but I justremember like I feel like
everything was phallic and andscantily clad well, and tits
were out all over the place.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
And not only that, but the villain at the beginning
of the third act, um, haskidnapped her and put her in
this torture device that he has.
He plays keys on the organ thatwill make her climax to death
is the premise uh, I'll havewhat she's having to watch it
(27:41):
for that scene alone, becauseshe's such a sexual dynamo
spoiler alert that she breaksthe machine.
That's right, they would getaway with that today.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah well, maybe someday we'll cover it.
Spoiler alert Spoiler alertyeah, Sidney Sweeney currently
is cast in the Titch the RoyalBarbarella in the theoretical
Barbarella remake.
Give it a shot, okay, oh, it'sgonna get at least one shot,
that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I'll give it a hot shot, for sure ah, we're
despicable I'll shoot it allover that.
Just go on, yeah no, no, no no,do tell skip.
I know you beat my interest.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Please explain my eyebrow isn't the only thing
that's raised right now.
So when you're masturbating,there's this Perhaps a bit more
of an enlightened feministnarrative would be Modesty Blaze
, British comic strip charactercreated by Peter O'Donnell and
Jim Holdaway back in 1963.
(28:47):
On the other end of thespectrum completely.
So it ran as a daily feature upuntil 2001.
She and her sidekick, WillieGarvin, travel the globe and
search for action and adventure,Don't we all, Don't we all?
And in 1966, director JosephLosey brought Modesty Blades to
(29:08):
the screen person of MonicaVitti, with Terrence Stamp in
the role of Willie Whoa cool.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Yeah, kneel before this, odd Kneel before Willie.
Yeah, well, a lot of peoplehave.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
If you're doing it right, there was also a 1982
pilot pro series for this and a2003 direct-to-video feature.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
That's where we get a lot of these things later on,
as this stuff goes on, yeah, itstarts really exploding the
options for the potential mediavenues.
It's funny because that doesn'texist anymore.
There is no direct-to-videoanything.
Yeah, there is, it's justdirect-to-streaming.
Well, sure, but okay.
(29:55):
Well, so when we saydirect-to-video, direct-to-video
means that it is a lowerquality movie that they didn't
think could possibly make moneyin theaters, so they went
directly to home video.
Right now, today.
Well, for a while it was justthe sci-fi channel that had
those, or like TNT, but todaydirect-to-streaming could be a
(30:20):
huge summer blockbuster.
It doesn't have to be theTomorrow War or whatever.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Yeah, what was that Rock, wonder Woman and Ryan
Reynolds film that wassupposedly like the number one
film in the world?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
The Rock, ryan Reynolds and Wonder Woman.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Okay, let me push that, oh, okay.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Yeah, okay, good yeah .
Speaker 1 (30:41):
I'm just saying it was a straight-to-streaming yes,
but it was likeStraight-to-streaming isn't the
same thing as directed video.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
It really isn't.
Now you will get the samethings sometimes, but you're
going to see that more on AmazonPrime or Tubi than you are on
Netflix or Hulu or whatever.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
You didn't have a made straight to VHS for a $200
million budget, exactly which iswhat Red Notice was.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Especially because of the pandemic and the decline of
theaters, but before that thewhole gestalt of direct-to-video
is not the same thing.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yeah, the market's been mashed together with
something that used to be anoutlet for smaller venue films.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
I don't know the exact equivalent, maybe
Straight-to-2B, maybestraight-to-2B, yeah, something
like that, a 2B original that'smore direct-to-video than
anything else.
And even then, though, there'ssome pretty good ones and some
high budget ones.
I watched a really good one, uh, like two nights ago.
That I I thought was solid.
Does it have a name?
(31:40):
No, no, nameless, nameless film, invasive for a 2b original.
I was like, wow, this is reallywell crafted.
I, I, it's, it's kind of awhatever movie, but for that it
was a masterpiece.
Hmm, you know, it's like one ofthose like every now and then
you get a Manskito, you know.
No, you know what it isactually.
(32:03):
What it literally is like isSci-Fi Channel always had the
worst.
That, right after the VHS eraended, sci-fi channel was the
place you went for that, fordirect, what we used to call
direct video.
Genre bullshit, right, bloodsurf or whatever.
It was what we watched thattime.
You know that kind of thing, butthen every now and then they
(32:25):
would get a fucking battlestargalactic times they are.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Something probably went to direct-to-video at some
point.
In 1952, tezuka again createdAstro Boy oh man as a manga and
then get on to a black-and-whiteTV series, to full color, to
computer-animated 3D film andthen remade in 1980s as a color
TV series which ran for 52episodes.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Okay, the way you said that made it sound slight.
It was black and white show andthen became a 3d animated show
in 1952.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
I'm very confused as to when that happened.
It's ahead of its time, yeahapparently it's an outlier, yeah
donald trump had his timemachine, went back, okay so when
did it become a 3d animatedseries?
Well, it became a 3d animatedfilm.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
And that's 2009.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Okay, All right.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Yeah, it's gone through multiple versions,
absolutely Updates.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Make a joke about it.
Yeah, the rest is developed, doyou think?
Yes?
Where, george, he's locked outin house arrest and he wants to
escape, and he makes a referenceto Astro Boy being able to fly
off with a pair of rocket pants,which aren't a thing, and they
make a joke about it not being athing.
That's where he gets the ideato put a bunch of balloons on a
(33:38):
chair.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Well, he probably makes that reference because
Astro Boy, the TV series, was sosuccessful that it became the
first anime to be broadcastoverseas, with English dub
version airing in the UnitedStates from 1963 until 1966.
Wow.
Another popular animeadaptation was Gigantor 64 to 66
.
Yes, and then again 93 to 97.
Awesome, yeah, that was theAmerican version of Misutero
(34:02):
Yokama's manga Tetsujin 28 Go.
It's about a 12-year-old boywho controlled a giant flying
robot, gigantor.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Or Iron Giant, whatever.
Anyway, quick anecdote myfriend Andy, his brother, he's
one of those guys you'd ever runout of stories to tell about
because he did all sorts ofcrazy shit.
I remember we went to a movieone time that he had seen
several times before but wantedme to go to.
I don't remember which movie itwas, but there is a moment
where a female main charactertakes her top off and shows her,
(34:34):
you know, full frontal, herhoo-hahs, her, yes, her chugalos
, um, her tater tots.
We call them a gathering whenthey're together.
He kept waiting for somethingto happen and he kept being like
okay, here it is, wait, justwait, wait, wait for it, wait,
wait, wait and then go silent.
And then the woman takes hertop off and then there's a long
(34:55):
pause and then he just turns tome, goes, I call the left one
gigantor.
I was like, okay, cool, that'swhy he took me to the movie.
Well, found it good, sir, justa sidebar, cool, that's why he
took me to the movie.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Well-founded good sir .
Just a sidebar.
You know it wasn't a sidebar.
That was Speed Racer who alsocame out in 60, 60, 68.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Very popular with American viewers.
Speed Racer, also known as MachGo Go Go.
That's funny.
You can't get more poorlytranslated, Because Speed Racer
sounds like a poorly translatedname.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
But then hold on to your apps for this show Also a
super cool name the Danger colonDiabolique, made in 1968.
Directed by Mario Bava.
Now, this was based onDiabolique, created in 1962.
One of the most popular seriesin the history of Italian comics
, consisting over 900 volumes.
And led to the birth of themost popular series in the
history of Italian comics,consisting of over 900 volumes,
and led to the birth of thefumettinieri comic subgenre.
(35:56):
Now, if you don't knowfumettinieri, which most people
don't, which most people don't,essentially it's black comics,
whoa whoa whoa.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
That's kind of short for it.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Now, this comes from Crocanera, which is an Italian
name for crime news.
So it's noir, not black.
Yes, it's among the earlyinspirations of film noir,
french feuilleton and Italianhorror films.
So they kind of bound these alltogether and heroes of the
fumadineri were kind of moreanti-hero or villain than
(36:27):
traditional heroes.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
It's off the coattails of Italian neorealists
.
That makes sense.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Yeah, yeah, so it's.
You know it's much more adultfor adult readers, with
exploitive themes andcharacterized by violence and
sexual references, all the kidfriendly stuff.
Yeah, yeah indeed.
And Diabolique was the pioneerin this particular realm and,
like I said, had a movie madeabout in 68 by mario bava.
Now we'll jump into the ec erawhere we get freddie francis's
(36:56):
tales from the crypt from 1972ec, which is what dc.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Coward said wc, ec, ec ended up being dc.
Yeah, did it.
Yeah, I thought that was likequality comics well, they
absorbed a lot of stuff, but thecompany was EC Publications in
the 1960s was eventuallyabsorbed into the same
corporation that later purchasedNational Periodical
Publications, which is laterknown as TC Comics.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Gotcha.
Yes, tales from the Crypt alsohad a TV series from 1989 to
1996 on HBO, very popular at thetime.
Yeah, and then a few featurefilms Demon Knight, 1995.
Or Delua Blood.
Or Delua Blood from 1996.
Which is probably the leastsuccessful of all EC adaptations
.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
With Dennis Miller and a super soaker full of holy
water.
Yeah, that's all you need toknow.
At least the other one hadBilly Zane.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Oh man, what a fucking pair of failures.
The movies, not the people.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Not Billy.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Zane, not Billy Zane.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
You seem to have said Christopher Walken, for some
reason.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
I had Billy Zane up my ass.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
For three years.
That's what happened to BillyZane.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
That's why he?
Speaker 3 (38:13):
started shaving his head.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Yeah, it makes the cleanup all that easier.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
We just slip right in .
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Now, about this time, you're going to get some of
your forays into TV for somecharacters, some Marvel
characters in particular, Likeyour Amazing Spider-Man, which
again 1977, on cbs as a liveaction version of that character
, which doesn't hold a candle tothe japanese version, by the
(38:40):
way.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
No, no, which is much cool, which is nothing to do
with spider-man, really.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
That was 41 episodes airing on tokyo channel 12 from
1978 to 1979 so so a shorterperiod of time.
Wow, overlapping alsoInteresting.
Yeah, that is interesting.
But you also have probably themore popular version of that,
which would be the IncredibleHulk starring Bill Bigsby in
(39:05):
1978, which did lead to a movie.
I believe it was at the trialof the Incredible Hulk.
I didn't look this up going offthe dome.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
There were multiple movies, and the movies are where
they started introducing otherMarvel characters, which is
interesting.
So the trial of the IncredibleHulk featured William Catt as
Daredevil.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
So the Trial of the Incredible Hulk featured William
Catt as Daredevil and the Deathof the Incredible Hulk, one of
them, features.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Thor, I believe that one has both of them in it,
doesn't?
Speaker 3 (39:31):
it Does it.
I know the Death of theIncredible Hulk is a different
film than the Trial of theIncredible Hulk, but they did a
bunch of made-for-TV stuff there.
At the end it was kind of likeColumbo.
It wasn't really a series, itwas more just like a sequence
made for TV movies.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Yeah, there was also supposed to be a third film
starring She-Hulk, just like theother two had featured both
Thor and Daredevil, and as earlyas July 1989, it was still
firmly expected to come out andbe made with Iron man under
consideration for a follow-up.
But it did not happen.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Bill Bixby died not too long after that right, so I
mean that's probably.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
He was struggling with cancer at the time.
That is true.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
I mean, like how do you go on after the death of the
Incredible Hulk, the next deathof the Incredible Hulk.
Just kidding.
Incredible Hulk Part 2.
Sorry, we weren't payingattention, he's still alive.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
I mean, if they did the comics version, he kind of
can't die, so he can just keepon going.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
Was it the Hulk?
Speaker 1 (40:29):
man You're thinking Hulk the End.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
But they've done more with Indestructible Hulk.
They do a lot of divining powerfrom an alternate reality thing
it's actually really cool, Iwould wholeheartedly recommend
it.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
Sounds like some spider totem bullshit to me.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
Hey, it may not sound good on its face, but Sure okay
, I mean I'd give it a shot.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
obviously Big Hulk standouts are the End Future
Imperfect by Peter David, wherethey introduce Maestro and
Banner.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yeah, I think Immortal Hulk is worthy to be in
that, really yeah.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Because I hated World War.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
Hulk, I thought it was stupid.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Yes, I think the idea of World War Hulk is great, but
it was neutered and that's athing for a different time.
But Immortal Hulk is well worthchecking out.
Okay, perhaps not as big as theIncredible Hulk.
We have Little Orphan Annie,who was first created by Harold
Gray Namely not as big as theIncredible Hulk Created by
Harold Gray in 1924.
(41:33):
It ran continuously innewspapers around the world up
until 2010.
Now John Huston tried to take astab at Annie Film-wise not
with a knife.
That didn't go so well.
There was also a TV movieversion in 1989 and a 2014
theatrical version that we'llsay had moderate success.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
Well, there was also the was 2021.
Nbc aired a live version of thetheatrical production.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Ah yes, Annie Live Right.
Yeah, it was 2021.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Did you know that Annie as a concept is a secret
neoliberal critique of FDR?
Speaker 1 (42:22):
Hmm, I can kind of see that neoliberal critique of
FDR.
Hmm, I can kind of see that.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
So Daddy Warbucks is called that because they didn't
like that FDR was giving moneyand supplies to the UK during
World War II.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
That's why it's originally called Daddy Warbonds
.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
Yeah, basically it's a complete neoliberal response
to the progressive fdradministration.
That daddy warbucks is supposedto be the manifestation of how
they thought he was ruiningamerica because he I don't know
like helped save everyone orwhatever.
So, just like they always hadan armed coup against FDR, it's
(43:05):
a safe country.
Anyway, keep going.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
Interesting Armed coup.
I'd like to hear more aboutthat sometime.
Very similar to FDR was SwampThing created in.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
That's true.
Yeah, they both, famously, arein wheelchairs.
They both had polio.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Yeah, yeah.
He was created in 1971 and hada we'll say underground hit film
in 1982, directed by Wes Craven.
Yeah, story Ray.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
Wise and Adrian Barbeau Get wise.
The Adrian Barbeau bot Indeed.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
It also had the return of Swamp Thing in 1989.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
That one is hard to watch.
But, it had Heather Locklear init.
Oh Right, sure, but I know oneof them is kind of like the
Island of Dr Moreau.
It's kind of a direct ripoff.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Yeah, and I think maybe that one also might be
plucking some key elements fromanother title we'll be talking
about in a minute.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
But before we get there, we want to touch on the
famous, perhaps biggest fantasy,especially sword and sorcery
kind of character, created in1932.
That is Conan the BarbarianFuck yes.
By Robert E Howard.
It was picked up in 1970 to bea comic book by Marvel and ran
(44:25):
for 275 issues, ending in 1993.
Then going to Dark Horse andother places and coming back to
Marvel, where I think he last Isaw he was an Avenger.
So there's that?
Speaker 3 (44:37):
What the fuck.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
Don't worry about it.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
Well, I thought he was supposed to do other.
I thought he bounced aroundmore than just that.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
So during the 70s there were also the magazine
format, but I believe they wereRight.
Speaker 3 (44:53):
Marvel.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
They were Marvel, I think, maybe under the Eclipse
banner.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
No, I don't think they were Eclipse, but they did
run under the magazine format,which is a thing we should get
into in another episode.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
But I thought they had Dynamite or somebody, it
doesn't matter yes, but postmarvel it mostly went to dark
horse for a long time and thendynamite entertainment got the
rights.
Okay, now it's odd because themain, like conan, is back with
marvel and so they're reprintingdark horse stuff and old Marvel
(45:24):
stuff and whatnot Weird.
But there's also the comicsthat are Conan in every way
except name.
You mean Cole, I mean likeactual, just called like the
Sumerian and it's literallyConan with other Conan
characters, telling Conanstories, but not allowed to call
him Conan.
Wow, that is fascinating.
(45:45):
Conan did have a pretty bigfilm.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
Which fucking rules to this day?
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Yes, very awesome, one of my favorites of all time.
There's also the follow-up in1984.
Sup Conan the Destroyer.
It's not good, it's not as bad.
Okay, I was literally justre-watching it the other day
because I got like the the 4kspecial editions came out.
Of course he did uh, I was, Ijust had it on because it's like
chamberlain taller in the 4kversion yes, yeah, okay, yeah,
(46:14):
they're also there's a runningnumber count on his belt.
Um, you have to like you.
In regular hd you can't see in4k, you see the numbers ticking
off.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
It's kind of like when you remember when you
worked at the library and youhad to have that the counter
thing, yeah, yeah, review comingin and out, that's exactly Ding
Ding and you have.
You know, he doesn't even haveto be there.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
No, it's incredible, there was also similar.
There was also similar.
The Red Sonja film came out in1985, also had a Conan-esque
character played by ArnoldSchwarzenegger, but not allowed
to call him Conan because theydid not have the rights to Conan
the Barbarian.
Did he even have a name?
Speaker 3 (46:55):
Yeah, he was Kalidor.
What the fuck is that bullshit?
That's a planet in Dune.
What the fuck are you talkingabout?
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Yeah, the planet became sentient.
Came to life in 1985.
Like ego.
But again, we hope you'veenjoyed.
Please do spread the word.
If you are liking, Come get usnext pod, gentle listener, and
until that time, Skip.
What else should they do?
Speaker 3 (47:21):
They should probably, especially after this episode.
well, first of all, clean upafter yourself to some sort of
reasonable degree, you knowfilthy savages I know seriously,
but make sure you support yourlocal comic shops and retailers
this is important and make sureyou have, of course, paid your
tabs, tipped your waitstaff andyour delivery drivers.
(47:42):
Tip your waitstaff and yourdelivery drivers, but make sure
very specifically, like jakesaid, to like, subscribe, share
and download all of these things, because this is how we get
seen.
From dispatch ajax we wouldlike to say godspeed, fair
wizards whoa with the sicknesswell, I'm down, hey are you down
(48:03):
with that sickness.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
Please go away.
It's eight.
This is why we can't do it.
Yeah, you got to be a hardtarget, okay.
That's just what I'm sayingWait, no, that was Jean-Claude.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
That was.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Jean-Claude, I'm switching it up.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
You can't do that.
That's not the premise of thething.
What?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
What you're saying.
There's no body doubles here.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Well, look, there might be a double impact, but
there's no.
This is why you can't do that.
We have to stick to one or theother.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Hey, I'm no cyborg, all right.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'll do what I want.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I can't do it.
I feel like this is under siege.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Don't worry.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
We're in dark territory here.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I've got a license to drive, so you don't have to
give me that.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
No no, no, you can't do that.
You cannot do that.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
No, his brain is exploding.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
You are breaking our rules.
God, this is holy ground.
You can't do that.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Where we're going.
We don't need rules.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Gentlemen, let's broaden our minds.
Are they in the proper approachpattern for today?
Negative, all weapons.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Now Charge the lightning field, please, for our
audience and also, secretly,for me, exactly what is the
premise of this miniseries.
Is it about comic book historyor is it about are you just
(01:36):
giving background to certaincomic book movies?
Yes, okay, crystal clear.
There we go.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Essentially, this is the second part.
Please listen to part one ifyou'd like to hear from the uh,
I think late 1880s up until the19 1940s, some here's a whole
thing about the plight of theurban proletariat.
It's uh quite engrossing well,someone's got to knock those
bourgeoisie down a peg right.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, I mean we finally got past feudalism.
So I kind of woke up and waslike, oh okay, now Industrial
Revolution, cool, it's like theBorg always said yes.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
But no, this is the second part in the series
talking about the history ofcomics, comic strips, the comic
medium and its adaptation intofilm, and how important and how
resilient it has been in the popculture psyche from the very
beginning of movies till today.
We will stop before we get totoday, but that is the idea, so
(02:38):
that we can kind of dispel thismyth that comic movies are the
death of us and once we get ridof these things we'll rock it
off into a grand new spectacleof filmmaking.
Comic books have always beenhere in the film and they will
always be here in some form orfashion, and this is just kind
of laying out the history ofthat with sprinkling some other
(02:59):
details.
Uh, in the midst of all of that.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I think we witnessed the peak saturation, at least of
that genre.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
If we're talking about, say, per capita or even
per dollar spent.
If there are seven movies andone of them is a superhero movie
, you know that's like how manymovies.
Or if, like, there were onehundred dollars spent and thirty
dollars of those went to comicmovies, you know that's probably
(03:27):
about where we're at currently.
It's tough because there aren'trecords of movie going numbers
in 1910.
Sure, lazy, it's because theyweren't lazy that comics to film
up on those uh early talkies,um up on the uh the
(03:49):
reel-to-reels they were puttingup.
At that time comics were amajor part of film absolutely.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, that's true, but I mean, but like as yes,
you're right um, but again itjust like post-Seduction of the
Innocent, where comics were kindof stripped down of any depth,
they were relegated to justbeing kid fair and the history
and the prominence of comics wastaken out of culture, never
really to gain back what it was.
(04:17):
It's grown in a different wayfrom, say, the 80s onward, but
it's always been relegated tosecond tier, low class
entertainment.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Yes, or kid oriented or dump down entertainment.
I've made this example before,but I think it's mostly apt in
this specific application thatwhen I went to see Batman 89, I
remember being in the audienceand a bunch of drunk teenage
kids were in the front row.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
They weren't turtles and ninjas were they.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Well, they might have been one or the other.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
It's hard to say.
If it's not at least three ofthe four, then I don't really
care.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Well then, it's not a real outing, it's not, it
doesn't count.
In the actual writing there'san asterisk next to it.
But they were obviously drunk,even though it was like I don't
know, like one.
In the afternoon Before themovie started they got up and
mockingly singing the Batman 66theme song, you know, because
that was the last incarnation ofBatman we had until 89.
(05:19):
And so their only memory andtheir only impression of
characters like batman were campcheese sub.
It wasn't cool, he wasconsidered lowbrow or childish.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
But then, when that movie started, oh man, they shut
the fuck up well, that'sfitting because, for my intents
and purposes, once we hit 89, Ithink things definitively change
.
Yes, I think the way that comicbook films are approached, the
way the medium is approachedafter that, and the viability of
comics on film and what theycan mean for the industry as a
(05:55):
whole, I think, completelyskyrockets to a different
stratosphere.
Which is why I think we don'tnecessarily need to get past
that my history stopping up intothat.
We don't necessarily need toget in past that my history
stopping up into that.
So we kind of get a sense ofhow things used to be rather
than how we've experienced itfor the past 40 years.
All right, so last time, onDispatch Ajax, we had just
finished up with the 1940sCaptain America series.
(06:19):
Now let's jump into the fire.
There is a fire down below thatwe've got to get into my
friends.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
We can continue with Steve Seagal, but that's a
rabbit hole.
We don't want to continue.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
No, mostly because we're going to get slapped.
Yeah, but as long as we stay onthe other side of the booth, we
should be fine.
Or a dangerous trap, Alright in1945, Dale Messick created the
intrepid young teenage reporterBrenda Starr Redhead.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Sorry.
Oh shit, I fucked that up, Igotta go to the bathroom real
quick, do you really?
No, no, I don't.
Oh, okay, I just have a thingfor redhead.
Sorry, that's a joke.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Oh yeah, he's got a thing Sorry.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Boner.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
He's got a boner.
That's how they say it inAlbania.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
In Canada it's called a boner.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Ike being boner.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
That's kind of a deep cut Kind of, and the weird
mashup too, but I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yeah, actually she was created in 1940, but she
made her big screen debut in1945 in a 13-chapter Columbia
serial directed by journeymanWallace Fox, willie Fox, billy
journeyman wallace fox um withthe leading willie fox, billy uh
(08:00):
star uh.
Joan woodbury uh it hadmoderate to middling success.
Uh, it did uh spawn a 1989version.
Uh, brendarr, which spoilerwe'll talk about in a little bit
more depth later on.
Not this podcast, anotherpodcast the future.
Listen in the future is whatI'm saying everybody.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
That's not really a spoiler.
I guess We'll talk about thatlater.
How about that?
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah.
Anyway, yeah keep going, yeah,anyway, yeah, keep going, yeah.
Now let's get into ainteresting.
So a lot of genre was happening.
Let us travel into Japan andtalk about Ogon Bat, otherwise
(08:58):
known as the Golden Bat, or alsoknown as Phantom man.
orantom us in various countriesoutside of japan now, this is
japanese superior that's createdby suzuki chiro and takeo
nagamatsu, uh in the autumn of1930, um, and originally
(09:18):
appeared, uh, in kamishibai,which is paper theater kind of
like you'd have imagine, likeSesame Street or someone's up
here and he's next to like alittle stage area, but there
will be paper, kind of like acomic book page, and then
(09:40):
they'll turn to the next pageand it will be dialogue and
they'll turn the next page andit will be a thing so like these
paper cards paired withscripted performances by
narrator.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, it's a little bit like pantomime, like Punch
and Judy, but kind of also likea silent film.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Yes, yes, very much like that.
Now, ogon Bat, or the GoldenBat by many, or at least by some
, might be considered theworld's first superhero, again
coming out in 1930, that's eightyears before the debut of
Superman, and there was alive-action adaptation of the
Ogon Bat.
Ogon Bat, the Golden Bat, was apopular character in all of
(10:18):
Japanese pop culture, includingmanga, anime, japanese films, as
well as toys and posters.
Same thing back to 1932.
Hentai, why don't you dig alittle deeper and see what you
can find yourself?
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Well, I'll bet to get there.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
So the Golden Bat, the Phantom of the Skyscraper,
is a 1950 tokusatsu filmproduced by Tokio Igae Hagio,
former Toei.
It's a lot going on in thattitle now, aside from stills
that were supposedly takenduring the film shooting.
The original film is nowconsidered to be lost.
Media uh, there just aren't anyprints of it left oh, so it
(10:57):
happened to dr who too.
Yeah, it's uh, it's rough butjust to give you an idea of what
the film was, dr Ogata, thediscoverer of the Ultron super
atom, which produces a power fargreater than that of the
hydrogen bomb, is targeted bythe evil QX gang and the leader,
dr.
Notso Not.
Nazi, notso Not so bad.
(11:19):
Hey, he's not so bad, he's nice, not so bad.
Hey, he's not so bad, he's nice.
The QX gang, wait, the QX gang.
Oh no, Attempted to use this fora different purpose, however.
Golden Bat, the monster ofjustice kick-ass name Fuck yeah
had shown up to fight and stoptheir evil plan.
(11:40):
Now, in 1966, toei made anotherlive-action Golden Bat film
After this one.
The latter doesn't apparentlyshare continuity with the
previous film.
Oh good I love that when thathappens, but nobody can see the
previous film anyway, so whocares?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Oh, so now it's an Evil Dead scenario.
Okay, eh.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Well, both are good.
Por que no los dos, but por queno los dos?
It was also later adapted intopopular anime TV series in 1967,
which was then released invarious European and Latin
American countries.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
No, no anime existed before it came to America Period
.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Oh, okay cool.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
The first anime was Vampire Hunter T end of story.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
It's Ninja Scrolls.
I won't hear any different.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
It premiered on Toonami, and that's that.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, but it's fascinating that the Golden Bat
may well be the first superheroin mass popular culture, at
least in the form that we knowthem as superheroes.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
So you're saying this is pre-Superman.
This is eight years beforeSuperman, Right?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
right right.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
And long before Batman.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
But it's also in the Phantom era, correct?
Speaker 1 (12:51):
The Phantom.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
No, in that mysterious Phantom zone of time.
That was pretty too old.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Stop talking about that period of time.
Technically, this is pre-ThePhantom, so this is 1930.
So the Phantom debuted in 1936.
Okay, that's really reallyinteresting.
Pre the Phantom, so this is1930.
So the Phantom debuted in 1936.
Okay, that's really reallyinteresting.
All right, and Shadow 1931.
So again, that's a year afterthis.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Wow, that's incredible yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah, pretty cool.
That's one of the things Ifound in my digging for this pod
.
Now, moving on, I found her inmy digging for this pod.
Now we're moving on Again.
We'll talk about Black Hawk, alesser creation of Chuck Quidra,
Bob Powell and Will Eisner.
Again, it created in 1940 forQuality Comics and later came to
DC.
It had a 1952 serial of thesame name, directed by Spencer
Gordon Bennett and Fred F Sears.
(13:37):
I didn't know that it did.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Now I want to see that.
Well, I'll allow it.
Send me to your forms induplicate.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
In an isolated section of the Southwest United
States, a hidden airport secretbase of cleverly designed planes
which appear conventional butare powered with super engines,
headquarters of the Blackhawks,guardians of the peace who do
not use guns but meet armedviolence with superior skill and
strength.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Weird connection.
First actor list out Superman'sown, Kirk Allen oh.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
One of the main.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Blackhawks An early example of actors playing
multiple comic book roles.
Next we'll get the 1954 HalFoster Prince Valiant comic
strip turned into a movie.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Father, it's all clear.
It's Baltar.
I started watching PrinceValiant and it starts off with a
voiceover and I'm like, oh mygod, that's a really familiar
voice.
I know who that is.
I refuse to look it up.
It's Michael.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Rennie Klaatu from the Day the Earth Stood Still.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Oh, that's wild.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
He's got such a distinct voice.
Prince Valiant debuted in 1937as a full-color Sunday feature,
and continues to this day, yes,but it was transferred to screen
by Henry Hathaway and a youngRobert Wagner as Prince Valiant
himself.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
That's really funny because I actually went to when
I was reporting.
I was waiting for a Marvelpanel in a smaller room.
It was like sort of anexperiment they were doing
because I talked to a Marvelexec after that.
It was like sort of anexperiment they were doing
because I talked to a Marvelexec after that.
But I went with my dad andliterally across the hall,
anthony Bourdain was hosting hisJiro Dreams of Sushi panel and
(15:33):
I'm sitting in a panel for the75th anniversary of Prince
Valiant waiting for this nextpanel to start.
My dad literally falls asleepin his chair waiting.
I'd say I was the youngestperson in that room by four
decades.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all.
Yeah, yeah, I don't think I'veseen a Prince Valiant fan under
the age of 50.
Minimum.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Right, it's like trying to find a Civil War vet
Like it's just not aroundanymore.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, when you turn 50 as a white male, you have
three paths you have World WarII buff, you have Civil War buff
, or you have Prince Valiant fan.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Prince Valiant fan.
Those are three options, that'sit.
That's it, two of which can befound on the History Channel.
The other one, you have to be ona very specific basketball I'm
sure now there's a streamingservice just devoted for that
just just for old men fallingasleep, to prince valiant, which
, by the way, they do riff on inspace balls, which very few
(16:34):
people, I think.
For a lot of people our age.
That was our first introductionto that, because my dad
explained the joke to me when Isaw that and I was like like oh,
okay, and now nobody knows whothe fuck Prince Valiant is, even
though it's still going.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Oh, yeah, yeah, no, again, it's still.
Are you in your 60s or 70s as awhite male?
Then you get something in themail that says do you know about
Prince Valiant?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Then this podcast is for you.
Do you read Prince Valiant?
Do you read Prince Valiant?
Splits his head open, gets shotby police.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
In two or three generations Prince Valiant will
just be a bedtime story thatthey say to their kids.
But it wasn't a bedtime storyin 1997 because there was
another film made about PrinceValiant, directed by Anthony
Hickox and starring StephenMoyer in the title role there.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
The Stephen Moyer, the Stephen role there, the
Stephen Moyer, the Stephen Moyer.
Wow, what a get.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Indeed.
Another get, probably a littlemore sultry one this time, would
be Sheena, queen of the Jungle,also created by Will Eisner and
Jerry Iger in 1937.
Now it got some screen time ina television series the same
name.
That ran from 1955 to 1956.
So a season it was 26 episodes.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
It didn't run from anything, it had a season.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It crept around on the small screen for all 26
episodes.
It showed up for one season forall 26?
Uh, it showed up for one season, but it then did have a film in
1984 starring tanya roberts, ofa view to a kill or beastmaster
fame.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Oh, not bridget nelson.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
No, no like you would say that's uh, I think she was
sonya eating it in the redvariety at that point it's true
next we have dennis the menace,who first appeared as a comic
strip and in comic books in 1951, but came to the small screen
with highly successfultelevision series that ran four
seasons, from 59 to 63, a totalof 146 episodes.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
You know my father.
His nickname when he was a kidwas Dennis the Menace, not just
because his name's Dennis, buthe did a lot of let's call it
mischief.
He burned down their house atone point.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Well, Mr Weatherby was a piece of shit, so he
deserved that.
So was Mr Wilson.
Mr Weatherby, that was Archie,wasn't it?
Yep?
Speaker 3 (18:56):
The fact that we both instantaneously knew these
things is part and parcel of whyour only recourse and outlet
for being people is this show Hi, only friend.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Skip across the screen.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Is Mr Wilson a dumbass?
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Dennis also had a couple other well, we'll say,
poorly received feature films.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Oh yeah, Was that Macaulay Culkin?
No, it was.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Sunkid, I'm thinking of Richie.
Rich, you were thinking of therich man.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
He's a boy.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
You know who's not a boy Osama Tezuka.
In fact, osama Bin Laden.
Not Bin Laden, but Tezuka isconsidered to be the father of
modern manga.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Are you sure Osama considered to be the father of
modern manga?
Are you sure that Bin Ladenwasn't the father of modern
manga?
Because I remember that stashand stuff that the CIA found.
Oh no, he just watched a lot ofHentai.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Never mind Potato to made him.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, it's true.
Yeah, love Tom and Jerry.
Now, he's not the sole creator,but he was quite prolific and
innovative in both his outputand what he wrote about how.
So Don't ask stupid questions,skip my fault.
Look it up, it's called theIntertubes.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Look it up Now.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Tezuka was widely influenced by early works of
Walt Disney, specifically Bambiin 1942 and Snow White in 1937.
In fact, mein Kampf, that's whyThumper has that little
mustache.
Oh, okay, and you have theTenth Dwarf, who just keeps
zig-hailing the whole time.
He's always in the background.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
That was probably.
Nobody knows what happened tothe Eighth and Ninth Dwarves,
but I'm guessing that they werereturned.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
That is a literal conspiracy that never happened.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
It's like all the movies previous to Leonard, part
6.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yeah, Where's my part ?
Four truthers, huh, where areyou at?
Make your small change movieabout that, about Ghost Dad?
Yeah, but he was influenced bythe large eyes, which kind of
gave him a bit of that stylethat has proliferated through
(21:14):
manga ever since.
Maybe, 1950 to 1954, mangaseries Jungle Emperor Leo and
its subsequent anime adaptationKimba the White Lion 1965 to
1967, was the first animeproduced in color.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Kimba the White Supremacist.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Ironically so.
The adventures of the WhiteLion Kimba is a story of the
lion who seeks to succeed hisfather as king of the jumble.
King of the jumble.
Of the jumble, the jumble uh,king of the jungle, the jumble.
That's the, the jumble.
Yes, uh, he had to get aroundthe word scramble first can we
just say like okay, come on.
(21:54):
Yeah, so simba yes, there wascontroversy ever since, because
a lot of people mostly rightlypoint out that the Lion King
from 1994 and how many otherversions they've had ever since,
there's a new one coming out in2024.
What, yeah, live action sequel.
Again, I don't know how it canbe live action if there's no
(22:15):
actual live animals or people init.
100% correct.
I don't get it.
It doesn't make any sense to me?
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Well, it doesn't make sense at all.
No.
The sequel to the last remake,so-.
Are those also going to godirect to video?
No, this is a prequel.
This is a prequel of how-.
Oh my God, what was Simba's?
Speaker 1 (22:36):
father's name, mufasa .
This is Mufasa's story story ofhow he watched anime about a
white lion and he startedwriting down the script.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
I guarantee you that how they got away with it was
because it's just hamlet.
Everything else is coincidental.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Our source material is hamlet, which is in public
domain it's also a hey, here's,uh, at that time, an obscure
animated film from 1965.
Who's going to know?
Come at the King, come at theLion King.
Yeah, and they got away with it, and I don't think there's been
any.
I'd have to look up.
(23:14):
But again, hey guys, go checkit out.
If you didn't know, do your ownresearch.
The Lion King is essentially aripoff of Kimba the White Lion.
One.
Go see Kimba the White Lion.
There are plenty of differences, granted, but it's a little too
on the nose to overlook.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
It's still obvious.
Yeah, and also, if you didn'tknow, it was Hamlet.
Please read Thor.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Now, coming back to America, we have the Green
Hornet Now.
Originally this was a radioprogram conceived by George W
Trendle back in 1936.
George W Bush, but made itsdebut in comic form in 1940 and
became the subject of at leasttwo Universal serials Serials
Ford and Beebe and Ray Taylor'sthe Green Hornet, 1940.
(24:01):
And the Green Hornet strikesagain, 1941.
It's not just a clever name,Not just he was back and greener
than ever.
If you don't know, the GreenHornet, a wealthy man becomes a
crime fighter, aided by hissidekick Kato.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
His problematic sidekick yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah, and because of the success of Batman, william
Dozer, the producer, tried torecreate some of that with the
Hornet kind of updating that,and then had Van Williams and
some guy named Bruce Leestarring as Kato.
Again, lasted only one season,1966-67.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
But there's a great scene about this in Dragon, the
Bruce Lee story, where he andhis wife are at a wrap party for
the end of Creed Hornet andit's announced that the show's
cancelled.
But he's the only one notdisappointed, because he has
pitched Kung Fu, which does notend up well for him.
(24:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
But long after his death, unfortunately, warrior,
which is now currently streamingon netflix at this exact moment
maybe not when you're listeningto the podcast I'm watching it
right now yeah, warrior is great.
It's a great tv show I told youit was good.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
I told you it was good.
No, I saw this years ago.
I said I was watching it.
You said I was looking intothat.
Is it good?
I was like, yeah, you shouldwatch it.
It was just kind of a standardfair conversation, but still,
that's how it happened.
I think I was watching it.
Who is it that has bettermemory?
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Let's just step back, okay, you do have better memory
, but you also have plenty offalse memories.
So it's a little bit of columnA, column B Everybody has false
memories folks, we're nevergonna get to the bottom of this.
There's no way we couldpossibly know so instead, we
(25:54):
should talk about barbarella.
It sounds like we recorded anyof it.
Yeah, yeah, go back to thetapes oh, I'll go to the tapes.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
I'll scour the tapes you know what?
Speaker 1 (26:05):
I'm gonna go to the mattress and see how that works
out for you, so uh, barbarella.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
So anyway, barbarella anyway.
So what about barbarella foryou?
So Barbarella.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
So anyway.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Barbarella.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
So anyway, what?
Speaker 3 (26:15):
about Barbarella.
That's the new anyway here'sWonderwall.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
So Barbarella was a comic character serialized in
the French magazine V V Magazineby Jean-Claude Forrest in 1962.
It was later produced in itsown standalone features, but in
1968 there was a classic filmadaptation by roger vadim
starring jane fonda there you goyou know, maybe go check it out
, because this is kind of atravels through a galaxy on
adventures and, you know, kindof wild sexual.
(26:52):
You know, um, it's a gas man,it's a gas, it's a bonkers still
um.
They're remaking, they'remaking a new vision of
barbarella.
I don't want it.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
I think we should just leave it alone.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
That is one of the horniest movies I have ever seen
and that's dealing with theepaa back then I haven't seen it
since I was a kid, but I justremember like I feel like
everything was phallic and andscantily clad well, and tits
were out all over the place.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
And not only that, but the villain at the beginning
of the third act, um, haskidnapped her and put her in
this torture device that he has.
He plays keys on the organ thatwill make her climax to death
is the premise uh, I'll havewhat she's having to watch it
(27:41):
for that scene alone, becauseshe's such a sexual dynamo
spoiler alert that she breaksthe machine.
That's right, they would getaway with that today.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah well, maybe someday we'll cover it.
Spoiler alert Spoiler alertyeah, Sidney Sweeney currently
is cast in the Titch the RoyalBarbarella in the theoretical
Barbarella remake.
Give it a shot, okay, oh, it'sgonna get at least one shot,
that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I'll give it a hot shot, for sure ah, we're
despicable I'll shoot it allover that.
Just go on, yeah no, no, no no,do tell skip.
I know you beat my interest.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Please explain my eyebrow isn't the only thing
that's raised right now.
So when you're masturbating,there's this Perhaps a bit more
of an enlightened feministnarrative would be Modesty Blaze
, British comic strip charactercreated by Peter O'Donnell and
Jim Holdaway back in 1963.
(28:47):
On the other end of thespectrum completely.
So it ran as a daily feature upuntil 2001.
She and her sidekick, WillieGarvin, travel the globe and
search for action and adventure,Don't we all, Don't we all?
And in 1966, director JosephLosey brought Modesty Blades to
(29:08):
the screen person of MonicaVitti, with Terrence Stamp in
the role of Willie Whoa cool.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Yeah, kneel before this, odd Kneel before Willie.
Yeah, well, a lot of peoplehave.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
If you're doing it right, there was also a 1982
pilot pro series for this and a2003 direct-to-video feature.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
That's where we get a lot of these things later on,
as this stuff goes on, yeah, itstarts really exploding the
options for the potential mediavenues.
It's funny because that doesn'texist anymore.
There is no direct-to-videoanything.
Yeah, there is, it's justdirect-to-streaming.
Well, sure, but okay.
(29:55):
Well, so when we saydirect-to-video, direct-to-video
means that it is a lowerquality movie that they didn't
think could possibly make moneyin theaters, so they went
directly to home video.
Right now, today.
Well, for a while it was justthe sci-fi channel that had
those, or like TNT, but todaydirect-to-streaming could be a
(30:20):
huge summer blockbuster.
It doesn't have to be theTomorrow War or whatever.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Yeah, what was that Rock, wonder Woman and Ryan
Reynolds film that wassupposedly like the number one
film in the world?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
The Rock, ryan Reynolds and Wonder Woman.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Okay, let me push that, oh, okay.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Yeah, okay, good yeah .
Speaker 1 (30:41):
I'm just saying it was a straight-to-streaming yes,
but it was likeStraight-to-streaming isn't the
same thing as directed video.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
It really isn't.
Now you will get the samethings sometimes, but you're
going to see that more on AmazonPrime or Tubi than you are on
Netflix or Hulu or whatever.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
You didn't have a made straight to VHS for a $200
million budget, exactly which iswhat Red Notice was.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Especially because of the pandemic and the decline of
theaters, but before that thewhole gestalt of direct-to-video
is not the same thing.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yeah, the market's been mashed together with
something that used to be anoutlet for smaller venue films.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
I don't know the exact equivalent, maybe
Straight-to-2B, maybestraight-to-2B, yeah, something
like that, a 2B original that'smore direct-to-video than
anything else.
And even then, though, there'ssome pretty good ones and some
high budget ones.
I watched a really good one, uh, like two nights ago.
That I I thought was solid.
Does it have a name?
(31:40):
No, no, nameless, nameless film, invasive for a 2b original.
I was like, wow, this is reallywell crafted.
I, I, it's, it's kind of awhatever movie, but for that it
was a masterpiece.
Hmm, you know, it's like one ofthose like every now and then
you get a Manskito, you know.
No, you know what it isactually.
(32:03):
What it literally is like isSci-Fi Channel always had the
worst.
That, right after the VHS eraended, sci-fi channel was the
place you went for that, fordirect, what we used to call
direct video.
Genre bullshit, right, bloodsurf or whatever.
It was what we watched thattime.
You know that kind of thing, butthen every now and then they
(32:25):
would get a fucking battlestargalactic times they are.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Something probably went to direct-to-video at some
point.
In 1952, tezuka again createdAstro Boy oh man as a manga and
then get on to a black-and-whiteTV series, to full color, to
computer-animated 3D film andthen remade in 1980s as a color
TV series which ran for 52episodes.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Okay, the way you said that made it sound slight.
It was black and white show andthen became a 3d animated show
in 1952.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
I'm very confused as to when that happened.
It's ahead of its time, yeahapparently it's an outlier, yeah
donald trump had his timemachine, went back, okay so when
did it become a 3d animatedseries?
Well, it became a 3d animatedfilm.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
And that's 2009.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Okay, All right.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Yeah, it's gone through multiple versions,
absolutely Updates.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Make a joke about it.
Yeah, the rest is developed, doyou think?
Yes?
Where, george, he's locked outin house arrest and he wants to
escape, and he makes a referenceto Astro Boy being able to fly
off with a pair of rocket pants,which aren't a thing, and they
make a joke about it not being athing.
That's where he gets the ideato put a bunch of balloons on a
(33:38):
chair.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Well, he probably makes that reference because
Astro Boy, the TV series, was sosuccessful that it became the
first anime to be broadcastoverseas, with English dub
version airing in the UnitedStates from 1963 until 1966.
Wow.
Another popular animeadaptation was Gigantor 64 to 66
.
Yes, and then again 93 to 97.
Awesome, yeah, that was theAmerican version of Misutero
(34:02):
Yokama's manga Tetsujin 28 Go.
It's about a 12-year-old boywho controlled a giant flying
robot, gigantor.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Or Iron Giant, whatever.
Anyway, quick anecdote myfriend Andy, his brother, he's
one of those guys you'd ever runout of stories to tell about
because he did all sorts ofcrazy shit.
I remember we went to a movieone time that he had seen
several times before but wantedme to go to.
I don't remember which movie itwas, but there is a moment
where a female main charactertakes her top off and shows her,
(34:34):
you know, full frontal, herhoo-hahs, her, yes, her chugalos
, um, her tater tots.
We call them a gathering whenthey're together.
He kept waiting for somethingto happen and he kept being like
okay, here it is, wait, justwait, wait, wait for it, wait,
wait, wait and then go silent.
And then the woman takes hertop off and then there's a long
(34:55):
pause and then he just turns tome, goes, I call the left one
gigantor.
I was like, okay, cool, that'swhy he took me to the movie.
Well, found it good, sir, justa sidebar, cool, that's why he
took me to the movie.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Well-founded good sir .
Just a sidebar.
You know it wasn't a sidebar.
That was Speed Racer who alsocame out in 60, 60, 68.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Very popular with American viewers.
Speed Racer, also known as MachGo Go Go.
That's funny.
You can't get more poorlytranslated, Because Speed Racer
sounds like a poorly translatedname.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
But then hold on to your apps for this show Also a
super cool name the Danger colonDiabolique, made in 1968.
Directed by Mario Bava.
Now, this was based onDiabolique, created in 1962.
One of the most popular seriesin the history of Italian comics
, consisting over 900 volumes.
And led to the birth of themost popular series in the
history of Italian comics,consisting of over 900 volumes,
and led to the birth of thefumettinieri comic subgenre.
(35:56):
Now, if you don't knowfumettinieri, which most people
don't, which most people don't,essentially it's black comics,
whoa whoa whoa.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
That's kind of short for it.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Now, this comes from Crocanera, which is an Italian
name for crime news.
So it's noir, not black.
Yes, it's among the earlyinspirations of film noir,
french feuilleton and Italianhorror films.
So they kind of bound these alltogether and heroes of the
fumadineri were kind of moreanti-hero or villain than
(36:27):
traditional heroes.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
It's off the coattails of Italian neorealists
.
That makes sense.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Yeah, yeah, so it's.
You know it's much more adultfor adult readers, with
exploitive themes andcharacterized by violence and
sexual references, all the kidfriendly stuff.
Yeah, yeah indeed.
And Diabolique was the pioneerin this particular realm and,
like I said, had a movie madeabout in 68 by mario bava.
Now we'll jump into the ec erawhere we get freddie francis's
(36:56):
tales from the crypt from 1972ec, which is what dc.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Coward said wc, ec, ec ended up being dc.
Yeah, did it.
Yeah, I thought that was likequality comics well, they
absorbed a lot of stuff, but thecompany was EC Publications in
the 1960s was eventuallyabsorbed into the same
corporation that later purchasedNational Periodical
Publications, which is laterknown as TC Comics.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Gotcha.
Yes, tales from the Crypt alsohad a TV series from 1989 to
1996 on HBO, very popular at thetime.
Yeah, and then a few featurefilms Demon Knight, 1995.
Or Delua Blood.
Or Delua Blood from 1996.
Which is probably the leastsuccessful of all EC adaptations
.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
With Dennis Miller and a super soaker full of holy
water.
Yeah, that's all you need toknow.
At least the other one hadBilly Zane.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Oh man, what a fucking pair of failures.
The movies, not the people.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Not Billy.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Zane, not Billy Zane.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
You seem to have said Christopher Walken, for some
reason.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
I had Billy Zane up my ass.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
For three years.
That's what happened to BillyZane.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
That's why he?
Speaker 3 (38:13):
started shaving his head.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Yeah, it makes the cleanup all that easier.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
We just slip right in .
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Now, about this time, you're going to get some of
your forays into TV for somecharacters, some Marvel
characters in particular, Likeyour Amazing Spider-Man, which
again 1977, on cbs as a liveaction version of that character
, which doesn't hold a candle tothe japanese version, by the
(38:40):
way.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
No, no, which is much cool, which is nothing to do
with spider-man, really.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
That was 41 episodes airing on tokyo channel 12 from
1978 to 1979 so so a shorterperiod of time.
Wow, overlapping alsoInteresting.
Yeah, that is interesting.
But you also have probably themore popular version of that,
which would be the IncredibleHulk starring Bill Bigsby in
(39:05):
1978, which did lead to a movie.
I believe it was at the trialof the Incredible Hulk.
I didn't look this up going offthe dome.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
There were multiple movies, and the movies are where
they started introducing otherMarvel characters, which is
interesting.
So the trial of the IncredibleHulk featured William Catt as
Daredevil.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
So the Trial of the Incredible Hulk featured William
Catt as Daredevil and the Deathof the Incredible Hulk, one of
them, features.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Thor, I believe that one has both of them in it,
doesn't?
Speaker 3 (39:31):
it Does it.
I know the Death of theIncredible Hulk is a different
film than the Trial of theIncredible Hulk, but they did a
bunch of made-for-TV stuff there.
At the end it was kind of likeColumbo.
It wasn't really a series, itwas more just like a sequence
made for TV movies.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Yeah, there was also supposed to be a third film
starring She-Hulk, just like theother two had featured both
Thor and Daredevil, and as earlyas July 1989, it was still
firmly expected to come out andbe made with Iron man under
consideration for a follow-up.
But it did not happen.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Bill Bixby died not too long after that right, so I
mean that's probably.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
He was struggling with cancer at the time.
That is true.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
I mean, like how do you go on after the death of the
Incredible Hulk, the next deathof the Incredible Hulk.
Just kidding.
Incredible Hulk Part 2.
Sorry, we weren't payingattention, he's still alive.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
I mean, if they did the comics version, he kind of
can't die, so he can just keepon going.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
Was it the Hulk?
Speaker 1 (40:29):
man You're thinking Hulk the End.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
But they've done more with Indestructible Hulk.
They do a lot of divining powerfrom an alternate reality thing
it's actually really cool, Iwould wholeheartedly recommend
it.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
Sounds like some spider totem bullshit to me.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
Hey, it may not sound good on its face, but Sure okay
, I mean I'd give it a shot.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
obviously Big Hulk standouts are the End Future
Imperfect by Peter David, wherethey introduce Maestro and
Banner.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yeah, I think Immortal Hulk is worthy to be in
that, really yeah.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Because I hated World War.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
Hulk, I thought it was stupid.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Yes, I think the idea of World War Hulk is great, but
it was neutered and that's athing for a different time.
But Immortal Hulk is well worthchecking out.
Okay, perhaps not as big as theIncredible Hulk.
We have Little Orphan Annie,who was first created by Harold
Gray Namely not as big as theIncredible Hulk Created by
Harold Gray in 1924.
(41:33):
It ran continuously innewspapers around the world up
until 2010.
Now John Huston tried to take astab at Annie Film-wise not
with a knife.
That didn't go so well.
There was also a TV movieversion in 1989 and a 2014
theatrical version that we'llsay had moderate success.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
Well, there was also the was 2021.
Nbc aired a live version of thetheatrical production.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Ah yes, Annie Live Right.
Yeah, it was 2021.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Did you know that Annie as a concept is a secret
neoliberal critique of FDR?
Speaker 1 (42:22):
Hmm, I can kind of see that neoliberal critique of
FDR.
Hmm, I can kind of see that.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
So Daddy Warbucks is called that because they didn't
like that FDR was giving moneyand supplies to the UK during
World War II.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
That's why it's originally called Daddy Warbonds
.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
Yeah, basically it's a complete neoliberal response
to the progressive fdradministration.
That daddy warbucks is supposedto be the manifestation of how
they thought he was ruiningamerica because he I don't know
like helped save everyone orwhatever.
So, just like they always hadan armed coup against FDR, it's
(43:05):
a safe country.
Anyway, keep going.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
Interesting Armed coup.
I'd like to hear more aboutthat sometime.
Very similar to FDR was SwampThing created in.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
That's true.
Yeah, they both, famously, arein wheelchairs.
They both had polio.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Yeah, yeah.
He was created in 1971 and hada we'll say underground hit film
in 1982, directed by Wes Craven.
Yeah, story Ray.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
Wise and Adrian Barbeau Get wise.
The Adrian Barbeau bot Indeed.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
It also had the return of Swamp Thing in 1989.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
That one is hard to watch.
But, it had Heather Locklear init.
Oh Right, sure, but I know oneof them is kind of like the
Island of Dr Moreau.
It's kind of a direct ripoff.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Yeah, and I think maybe that one also might be
plucking some key elements fromanother title we'll be talking
about in a minute.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
But before we get there, we want to touch on the
famous, perhaps biggest fantasy,especially sword and sorcery
kind of character, created in1932.
That is Conan the BarbarianFuck yes.
By Robert E Howard.
It was picked up in 1970 to bea comic book by Marvel and ran
(44:25):
for 275 issues, ending in 1993.
Then going to Dark Horse andother places and coming back to
Marvel, where I think he last Isaw he was an Avenger.
So there's that?
Speaker 3 (44:37):
What the fuck.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
Don't worry about it.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
Well, I thought he was supposed to do other.
I thought he bounced aroundmore than just that.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
So during the 70s there were also the magazine
format, but I believe they wereRight.
Speaker 3 (44:53):
Marvel.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
They were Marvel, I think, maybe under the Eclipse
banner.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
No, I don't think they were Eclipse, but they did
run under the magazine format,which is a thing we should get
into in another episode.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
But I thought they had Dynamite or somebody, it
doesn't matter yes, but postmarvel it mostly went to dark
horse for a long time and thendynamite entertainment got the
rights.
Okay, now it's odd because themain, like conan, is back with
marvel and so they're reprintingdark horse stuff and old Marvel
(45:24):
stuff and whatnot Weird.
But there's also the comicsthat are Conan in every way
except name.
You mean Cole, I mean likeactual, just called like the
Sumerian and it's literallyConan with other Conan
characters, telling Conanstories, but not allowed to call
him Conan.
Wow, that is fascinating.
(45:45):
Conan did have a pretty bigfilm.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
Which fucking rules to this day?
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Yes, very awesome, one of my favorites of all time.
There's also the follow-up in1984.
Sup Conan the Destroyer.
It's not good, it's not as bad.
Okay, I was literally justre-watching it the other day
because I got like the the 4kspecial editions came out.
Of course he did uh, I was, Ijust had it on because it's like
chamberlain taller in the 4kversion yes, yeah, okay, yeah,
(46:14):
they're also there's a runningnumber count on his belt.
Um, you have to like you.
In regular hd you can't see in4k, you see the numbers ticking
off.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
It's kind of like when you remember when you
worked at the library and youhad to have that the counter
thing, yeah, yeah, review comingin and out, that's exactly Ding
Ding and you have.
You know, he doesn't even haveto be there.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
No, it's incredible, there was also similar.
There was also similar.
The Red Sonja film came out in1985, also had a Conan-esque
character played by ArnoldSchwarzenegger, but not allowed
to call him Conan because theydid not have the rights to Conan
the Barbarian.
Did he even have a name?
Speaker 3 (46:55):
Yeah, he was Kalidor.
What the fuck is that bullshit?
That's a planet in Dune.
What the fuck are you talkingabout?
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Yeah, the planet became sentient.
Came to life in 1985.
Like ego.
But again, we hope you'veenjoyed.
Please do spread the word.
If you are liking, Come get usnext pod, gentle listener, and
until that time, Skip.
What else should they do?
Speaker 3 (47:21):
They should probably, especially after this episode.
well, first of all, clean upafter yourself to some sort of
reasonable degree, you knowfilthy savages I know seriously,
but make sure you support yourlocal comic shops and retailers
this is important and make sureyou have, of course, paid your
tabs, tipped your waitstaff andyour delivery drivers.
(47:42):
Tip your waitstaff and yourdelivery drivers, but make sure
very specifically, like jakesaid, to like, subscribe, share
and download all of these things, because this is how we get
seen.
From dispatch ajax we wouldlike to say godspeed, fair
wizards whoa with the sicknesswell, I'm down, hey are you down
(48:03):
with that sickness.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
Please go away.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!