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AWESOME-tober-fest 2009: Coney Island’s Dante’s Inferno and a few other dark rides

Posted in Frankenstein, Halloween, movies with tags amusement parks, AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2009, dark rides, Frankenstein, Halloween, haunted houses, holiday, monsters on October 9, 2009 by Paxton

Today, I finish talking about haunted dark rides. I’m going to start with a former Coney Island attraction but I’ll also talk about a few others as a bonus.

Let’s begin…

Dante’s Inferno (Coney Island, NY) — Constructed and originally located in Europe, this two story portable dark ride was brought to New York’s Coney Island Astroland in 1971. It was originally run as an independent carnival concession until the owners of Astroland bought it outright a few years later. In the ’90s ride designer Lou Nasti completely redesigned the inside. Despite the name, the ride isn’t based on Dante’s poem nor is it a “ride into Hell”. A “bumper” type car would ferry you through several unconnected scenes of horror including monsters and human torture. As of 2008, this ride as well as the entirety of Astroland has been closed. Check out an in-depth article including pictures about this ride here.

The Haunted House (Ocean City, MD) — Located in Trimper’s Amusement Park, this ride was originally built in 1964 by Bill Tracy, a legend amongst dark ride enthusiasts. In 1988, the ride was expanded with new and updated scares. However, at least 20 of Bill’s original stunts are still intact throughout the ride making it the most complete Bill Tracy ride still in existence. Check out Surfing Pizza’s nostalgic rememberances of this ride as well as the unofficial website.

Castle Frankenstein (near Darmstadt, Germany) – I couldn’t pass on mentioning this when my theme this year is Frankenstein!! Built sometime in the 13th century by Konrad Reiz von Breuberg (who took the name Frankenstein) it is said that this castle was the inspiration for Mary Shelley’s novel. However there is a lot of controversy about this and there is nothing historically to prove it. For instance, in the actual Shelley novel, there was no Frankenstein castle. It would be James Whale’s 1931 movie that would popularize the idea of a Frankenstein castle. This “real life” Frankenstein castle, however, is now mostly in ruins as there are only two towers and a chapel left standing. If you ever go to Germany and want to see it, tours are available.

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Hilariously Inappropriate Star Wars items

Posted in humor, movies, pop culture, Star Wars with tags movies, pop culture, Star Wars on September 23, 2009 by Paxton

Star Wars is iconic. Almost all kids love it. Floppy haired ’70s kids. Neon wearing ’80s kids. Baseball cap tilted 20 degrees to the right ’90s kids. All of them. They have heard and love Star Wars (well, they’ve at least heard of it). It’s ubiquitous. With the metric tons of crap that is produced within the Star Wars brand, there is going to be a few missteps. Maybe quality control got drunk and fell asleep on the job, maybe someone just got a little greedy, maybe the Lucasfilm execs are nothing but perverts. For whatever reason, questionable products are released all the time. Here are 5 of the most inappropriate Star Wars toys meant for children.

Topps Star Wars movie card #207 — This is probably the most well known of the “vaguely obscene” Star Wars items. Take a look at this image of C3PO. Take a goooooood look. Right around the “bathing suit area”. Hmmmm, what’s that? I can’t quite………holy crap. I guess this gives new meaning to the term “fully functional”. Am I right? Goldenrod, indeed! You can click the image to make it bigger, if you are into that sort of thing (and are gross).

C3PO tape dispenser — C3PO, dude, WTF?! Was the card above not inappropriate enough? Now kids are supposed to grab your “wheel” to get some tape? For once in your life, Threepio, show some dignity. I don’t think I can “unsee” any C3PO suppositories or “body massagers” that come about because you are a media whore.

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Star Trek 43rd Birthday: Watching Season 1 on DVD Part I

Posted in movies, pop culture, reviews, Star Trek, TV shows with tags James T Kirk, movies, pop culture, reviews, Star Trek, TV shows on September 11, 2009 by Paxton

Okay, today we are continuing our Star Trek 43rd Anniversary celebration by revisiting the original TV series episodes. On Wednesday I did a movie retrospective of the first six Star Trek movies, but today I’m reviewing Season 1 of the TV series. Growing up in the ’80s, I was a big fan of the movie version of Star Trek. Treks II and VI were my favorite movies with the original cast. I had seen some of the episodes of the original TV show in syndication, but I didn’t remember them. I said before, that the only episode I’ve watched in its entirety more than once was Squire of Gothos because it contained the character of Trelane, the precursor to Star Trek: The Next Generations’ Q character.

Looking at the Season 1 set being offered from Netflix, I noticed something odd. The original unaired pilot, The Cage, is not offered on the first season set. I was disappointed because I really wanted to see this episode. However, after digging around on the internet I found out that The Cage was offered on the very last disc of Season 3 as a bonus. So I had to get the last disc of season 3 mailed to me from Netflix to see the unaired pilot. I just thought that was weird.

So, anyway, this is what I’m watching, the Blu-Ray set of Star Trek The Original Series, Season 1.

Going into this I was very worried that the original show was going to be a little dated and boring. That I wasn’t going to enjoy it as much as the movies. That’s one of the reasons I decided to re-watch the shows, to see the whole phenomenon how it originally aired.

Overview of Season 1 as a Whole

So, how does the series hold up? Very well, actually. Like I said, I was prepared to be a bit bored by the cheap special effects and low caliber story telling, but the series really surprised me. Yes, there are episodes that plod along and bore you, but for the most part it is fascinating to watch the crew at work. Predictably, Shatner is UNBELIEVABLE as James Kirk. All the reasons I love him in every Star Trek movie is presented in this first season. He is supremely bad ass, as macho as the offspring of a T-Rex and a Great White Shark and totally in charge at all times. He seeks out new life, then when the new life starts acting like bitches, he throws photon torpedoes at it until the problem goes away. Kirk doesn’t care. And Spock. OMFG, Nimoy is a treasure. He is the king of the subtle insults. Whenever some crew member is freaking out about the near death adventures Kirk keeps getting them into, Spock always comes at them completely deadpan with something similar to “emotions are illogical” or “emotions make you weak”. Then he gives them that penetrating Vulcan stare with the raised eyebrow that informs the crew member that they have just been OWNED. The crew of the Enterprise have got to think Spock is a douche. I love it.

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Star Trek 43rd Birthday: Re-Watching the movies

Posted in movies, pop culture, reviews, Star Trek with tags movies, pop culture, reviews, Star Trek on September 9, 2009 by Paxton

Star Trek turned 43 this week. The first episode of the original series aired on Sept 8, 1966. To celebrate, I re-watched all the original cast’s Star Trek movies. Starting with Star Trek The Motion Picture and going through Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, I quickly review the movie legacy of the cast from the original TV show.

Let’s see if these movies are still as good in the harsh light of today. Beware, though, as the movie pirate will tell you, “Proceed with caution, mates. Thar be spoilers ahead!”

Star Trek: The Motion Picture — I didn’t watch this until I was in high school. What I remember from that screening was one word: BORING. Watching this again, I have a new word: COMA-INDUCING. The problem lies in the fact that this movie was originally developed as a new Star Trek TV series called Phase II which would’ve included Kirk, Spock, Bones and others in small roles as well as a bunch of new officers (a bald chick and that guy from 7th Heaven). After the success of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars, Paramount trashed the new series and had the show re-developed as a motion picture. Surprisingly, Phase II was written by sci-fi legend Alan Dean Foster who also wrote the Star Trek reboot novelization. Despite the high pedigree of writer, what the movie delivers is an incomprehensible mess. The storyline is hard to follow, some of the effects are terrible and the acting is less than stellar. If you are looking for your first Star Trek movie viewing, I beg you, with all that is holy, DO NOT start here. Your journey will end before it can begin. If you must, return to it later and wonder WTF just happened. After watching this again, I’m surprised Part II got made at all. 1.5/5

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan — It’s almost cliche to say that Star Trek II is the best Star Trek movie, but things become cliche for a reason. Next to Part VI, also written/directed by Nicholas Meyer, this is the best Trek movie. This movie’s story is a sequel to a 1967 episode of the original series called Space Seed. Ricardo Montalban’s Khan first appeared in that episode and the movie picks up years later when Kirk and his crew once again face the titular genetically enhanced Khan. The opening of the movie is iconic and depicts the infamous Kobayshi-Maru officer’s test. From there the action takes off and never lets up during the tight 116 minute runtime. The superior pacing and the tete-a-tete between Kirk and Khan make this a wonderful sci-fi action movie. This is what everyone thinks of when you say Star Trek and that’s why it’s a classic. I’ll tell you this, if you don’t shed a tear during Spock’s death scene when he tells Kirk that he will forever be his friend, then you have no soul, my friend. I’m misting up right now just thinking about it. 4/5

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Happy 43rd Birthday, Star Trek!!

Posted in pop culture, Star Trek, TV shows with tags pop culture, Star Trek, TV shows on September 8, 2009 by Paxton

43 years ago today, on Sept 8, 1966, the first episode of Star Trek’s original series aired on NBC. The first broadcast episode was The Man Trap, however, chronologically the episode Where No Man Has Gone Before happens first (and the unaired pilot The Cage happens before that).

Being born in 1974 and having my formative years in the ’80s I missed watching the original series on television. What I did enjoy, was watching the movies. I missed the first Star Trek movie (probably because my dad didn’t enjoy it), but I watched Star Trek II as my first Star Trek experience and I loved it. I would grow to love Kirk and Spock and the rest of the crew through the next 4 movies (or 5, depending on if you count ST: Generations as an original cast movie). I would catch some of the syndicated reruns of the TV show, but only in pieces. I also used to watch the cartoon on Nickelodeon, but as a child, it seemed boring to me. I plan on revisiting that cartoon. The only original series episode I can think of off the top of my head that I’ve seen more than once is episode #17: The Squire of Gothos. I only watched that because the main adversary in that episode, Trelane, was the precursor to one of my favorite Next Generation characters, Q.

After watching the phenomenal JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot, and in light of Star Trek’s birthday, I decided to re-watch the original cast’s movies as well as the first season of the television show on DVD. I’ll have two more articles up this week with quick reviews of those movies and TV shows. Are they still bad ass? Are they completely played out? Find out this week in my reviews.

And Happy Birthday, Star Trek!

Star Trek 43rd Birthday Articles coming this week:
1. Review of the first 6 Star Trek movies
2. Review of the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series Part I
3. Star Trek Season 1 highlights Part II