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Nerd Lunch Episode 10: By the Power of Grayskull…

Posted in nostalgia, podcast, pop culture, TV shows with tags Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, pop culture, toys, TV shows on November 8, 2011 by Paxton

Episode 10 of the Nerd Lunch podcast is live, my friends. This week we not only celebrate our foray into double digits, we welcome our first returning guest. Shawn Robare from Branded in the 80s joins us again to wax nostalgic. And what are we waxing nostalgic about? This week we are talking about vintage He-Man toys.

We talk about our favorite figures, what we thought were some of the worst figures, the figures we owned and the figures we wish we had owned. We talk about the effectiveness of “battle damaged” armor, the inexplicable origins of Zodac and learn one of us won a break dancing contest at a Showbiz Pizza (it ties in, sort of). Hope you are ready for an 80s good time.

Download it from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner.

AWESOME-tober-fest 2011: The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone (1980)

Posted in cartoons, Dracula, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, monsters, TV shows, vampires with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2011, cartoons, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, monsters, TV shows, vampires on October 20, 2011 by Paxton

Here we are on Day 4 of Dracula TV week. Today we are looking at one of my favorite Halloween cartoon specials. Today we are looking at the special, The Flintstones Meet Rockula & Frankenstone.

The special was produced in 1979 but aired for the first time in Oct 1980. It featured the voices of Henry Corden as Fred, Mel Blanc as Barney, Ted Cassidy (Lurch from Adams Family) as Frankenstone and John Stephenson as Count Rockula.

The special starts with the Flintstones and Rubbles visiting the game show Make a Deal or Don’t. They win a trip to Rocksylvania to stay the weekend in Castle Rockula.

The ancient Castle Rockula has been turned in to a fancy hotel. The Flintstones and Rubbles attend a Halloween party dressed as Rockula and Frankenstone. They accidentally discover a trap door into a secret laboratory underneath the castle. While in this laboratory, a random bolt of lightning awakens the real Frankenstone monster. The real monster goes into another secret passage and awakens the real Count Rockula who has been asleep for the last 500 years.

Count Rockula immediately orders everyone out of the castle. While herding everyone out the doors, he meets Wilma, mistakes her for his bride, then, when he realizes his error, he decides to take her as his bride anyway even if it means killing Fred.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2011: Dracula and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Posted in Dracula, Halloween, holiday, monsters, pop culture, TV shows, vampires with tags Angel, AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2011, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dracula, holiday, monsters, pop culture, TV shows, vampires on October 19, 2011 by Paxton

Here we are again at hump day. Hump day in the middle of Dracula TV show week. Today we are going to look at Dracula’s appearance in one of my favorite shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Dracula would make his Buffy-verse debut in the first episode of Season 5 in Fall 2000. Why it took Whedon 5 seasons to get Dracula in this series is beyond me, but here he finally is. To me, having Dracula as the “big bad” for a season makes perfect sense. You make him evil like Angelus, but calculating and cold. AWESOME. In spades.

Anyway, Dracula travels to Sunnydale to meet the famous Buffy and make her one of his concubines (you and me both, Drac). After a nice battle in the cemetery between Buffy and a nameless vamp, we get a misty reveal of the Buffy-verse Dracula. And he looks like the living embodiment of nerd rage.

F**K. YOU.

THAT’S Dracula. WHAT. THE. F**K, Whedon? He looks more like a douchey street magician than he does Dracula. Oh, Whedon, you sonova—-. Why? Why do this? It’s like you are mocking the entire idea…….wait, hold on, just…..(calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean) let’s talk about the episode, shall we?

Like I said, “Dracula” comes to Sunnydale to make the famous Buffy Summers one of his concubines. And to go along with that ridiculous outer appearance he also has a douchey Euro-trash accent. So, the writers are checking off ALL the boxes under Dracula Cliches. Vaguely European accent? Check. Long hair? Check. Red lined cloak? Check. Incite murderous rage in Pax for the lazy Dracula portrayal by the writers/producers of a show I love? Double check. But I digress. AGAIN.

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Nerd Lunch Episode 7: Does it live up to the hype?

Posted in books, comic books, movies, podcast, TV shows with tags books, comic books, movies, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcasts, TV shows on October 18, 2011 by Paxton

Welcome your faces to Episode 7 of the Nerd Lunch Podcast. This week we are joined by Robert from the blog To The Escape Hatch. Our topic is “Does It Live Up to the Hype?”

We each took a TV show or movie that has been recommended/hyped up to us over the years that we never got around to watching and…we watched it. Some of the things we watch include Braveheart, Mad Men and The Wire. Do they live up to the hype? Listen to the podcast to find out.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner.

AWESOME-tober-fest 2011: Forever Knight (1992)

Posted in monsters, pop culture, TV shows, vampires with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2011, Halloween, holiday, monsters, pop culture, TV shows, vampires on October 18, 2011 by Paxton

Day 2 of vampire TV week. Yesterday we talked about Dracula The Series from 1991. I mentioned that one of the guest stars in that show would go on the next year and star in his own vampire series. That vampire series was Forever Knight.
Forever Knight title This show originally began as a 1989 TV movie named Nick Knight on CBS starring Rick Springfield. For the broadcast series, CBS recast the lead with Geraint Wyn Davies and renamed it Forever Knight.

In a way, this show was sort of a precursor to Angel. Nick Knight is a Toronto police detective on the midnight shift. Nick is also an 800 year old vampire. Born in Roman times, Nick was once a very violent vampire reveling in chaos. Nowadays, Nick refuses to feed on human blood and subsists only on bottled animal blood. He keeps his vampiric nature a secret and occasionally uses his supernatural abilities to catch the bad guy. Some of Nick’s abilities include super strength and speed, heightened senses, flight and low level hypnotic/psychic powers. There is one human, the city medical examiner, who is aware of Nick being a vampire. Two other former vampire acquaintances of Nick show up later on and continually try to lure him back into his less than civilized ways.

The show ran for three seasons and has garnered quite a cult following. In 2004, TV Guide listed it #23 in a list of the top 25 “cult shows” of all time. There were three books released based on the series. The books contained original stories that furthered the story from Season 3 after the show was canceled.

There was also a soundtrack released for the show and the entire run of episodes was released on DVD. You can get all three seasons as well as the original TV movie with Rick Springfield off Netflix. Neither have been added to streaming, however you can watch them on Amazon Instant Movies.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.