Someday I’ll start posting about actual comic books again.
In the interest of accuracy in Progressive Ruin reporting, I would like to state that, upon viewing the film The Cat from Outer Space, my previous inability to suspend disbelief regarding the name of said outer space cat (that name being the all-too-terran “Jake”) was an mistake on my part. The cat’s name, as given in the film, is “Zunar J5/9 Doric 4-7.” “Jake” is the name he adopts to make things easier for his human friends.
Progressive Ruin regrets this error.
By the way, Jake/Zunar J5/9 Doric 4-7 gets a mention in this Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfic starring…Willow’s cat, Miss Kitty Fantastico. Jake is Miss Kitty’s father, you see.
You know, I don’t think, in a million years, I would ever have come up with something like this. God bless you, Fanfiction.
That bit about the Kirk/Spock slash fiction from the novelization of the first movie I’d mentioned made the rounds, I see. In response to one discussion of that passage, this LiveJournal user notes that in the book’s introduction, supposedly penned by Kirk himself, he downplays the accuracy of the events as presented in the television show. I’d forgotten about that, in the decades since I’ve last read the book, so I went back to check…and sure enough, that person spoke truth. Here’s the passage in question:
“Unfortunately, Starfleet’s enthusiasm affected even those who chronicled our adventures, and we were all painted somewhat larger than life, especially myself.
“Eventually, I found that I had been fictionalized into some sort of ‘modern Ulysses’ and it has been painful to see my command decisions of those years so widely applauded, whereas the plain facts are that ninety-four of our crew met violent deaths during those years – and many of them would still be alive if I had acted either more quickly or more wisely. Nor have I been as foolishly courageous as depicted. I have never happily invited injury; I have disliked in the extreme every duty circumstance which has required me to risk my life. But there appears to be something in the nature of depicters of popular events which leads them into the habit of exaggeration.”
WOW. This passage not only kinda/sorta implies that there’s some form of Star Trek show/virtual-adventure/holo-book/space-documentary within the Star Trek universe itself, but that at least some of it is horse hockey. I wonder if the in-universe actor who portrays Kirk is as…well, quirky as our own beloved Shatner.
A big thanks to reader Jeff, who sent along a scan of his copy of the Condorman novelization:
I’ve looked up info on this movie all over the web, and even though I know I saw the film, nothing rings any bells with me. But perhaps that’s for the best, considering.
That’s pretty loose usage of the word “major” there, too.
Sigh. I’d meant to leave the movie novelization stuff out of this week’s postings, but What Can You Do?
Just noticed something as I was poking through the site archives:
Posted on April 24th, 2005:
“Where’s my Death in the Family action figure set? I want a Joker with springloaded ‘beating Robin with a crowbar’ action!”
Currently available from DC Comics in the Batman and Son action figure set: Joker figure with crowbar accessory. Not springloaded, I might add, so that if you want to have Joker beat your Robin figure, you can’t just press a button and have the Joker figure do the work for you. You have to get involved, get your hands dirty…you have to guide the arm of the Joker, up and down, over and over again. The sin, the guilt, will be yours, and yours alone.
This may not be recommended play action for the Batman and Son: Joker action figure.
Whoops, that came awfully close to posting about comics. Here, have a picture of Vincent Price from Tales of Terror (1962):
I recently watched Tales of Terror, adapting Edgar Allen Poe (on a flip DVD with another Vincent Price horror anthology film, Twice Told Tales, with adaptations of Nathaniel Hawthorne stories). It’s a lot of fun, with some great costars… it’s hard to go wrong with Basil Rathbone as an evil hypnotist, but the real treat is “The Black Cat,” costarring Peter Lorre as the drunken, cuckolded husband who swears revenge upon Price’s Fortunato. It’s actually quite funny, in a dark humored sort of way, and the scene where the two compete in a wine-tasting contest made me laugh out loud. That still above is from this segment, where Lorre’s character calls Price a coward…that’s some haughty indignation at play on that face.
I threw an Amazon link for this DVD set in the sidebar, if you’re interested. (And if, you know, you need something to watch while playing your new 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons set, also linked in the sidebar. Or if you needed something to watch on your brand new high-end DVD player, which you’re welcome to search for and buy through the search box, there.)
(Okay, I’ll stop that now.)
