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A tour of the Golf ‘n Stuff arcade from the 1984 Karate Kid movie

Posted in movies, pop culture with tags arcades, Cavalcade Arcade, movies, pop culture, video games on July 24, 2013 by Paxton

Late last year I took a look at the Pinball City arcade from the 1980 movie Midnight Madness. It featured lots of good, awesome vintage arcade games for us to take a look at. It was a pretty popular article so I thought I’d take a look at another movie arcade. This time, I’m looking at the famous Golf n’ Stuff arcade from The Karate Kid.

Here is that spinning red sign.

Until grabbing screenshots for this article, I never noticed the sign has a hole in it right by the ‘S’ in Stuff. Interestingly, the director, John Avildsen, has been posting film he took in 1983 when they were rehearsing for shooting The Karate Kid. Some of the Golf n’ Stuff rehearsals are out there. The spinning sign has that same hole in it. I love that continuity.

So, Daniel and Alli go to this mythical Golf n’ Stuff amusement center for a first date. The first part of the date is quickly spent in the Arcade. Here they are walking into the entrance.

Inside during this adorable music montage (Can You Feel the Night by Baxter Robertson) we get a glimpse of a few vintage video games. Click any of the below screenshots to see them BIGGER. It makes it easier to see the games in some instances.

Super Chexx Hockey

Up first is this awesome Super Chexx Hockey by ICE. Manufactured in 1983. There was also a regular Chexx Hockey released the same year, but I think the Super version was what was used in this scene.

Daniel appears to score a goal on Alli and he sort of overreacts to his victory. During this douchey hockey celebration, right behind Mr Larusso, is a Stern Flight 2000 pinball machine from 1980.

Nope, no video games here. I just think Elizabeth Shue is achingly adorable in this movie. I thought we should all just take a moment and drink it in.

Okay, let’s move on.

Continue reading →

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Hanna-Barbera’s The Robonic Stooges (1977)

Posted in cartoons, nostalgia, pop culture, TV shows with tags LEB, nostalgia, pop culture, Three Stooges, TV shows on July 17, 2013 by Paxton

This week’s assignment from the League is to talk about robots. Another rather broad topic, but instead of listing my top 10 robots or something along those lines, I’d thought I’d discuss one of my favorite cartoons that happens to combine robots and…The Three Stooges?!

Yep, in late 1977 CBS aired the cartoon, The Robonic Stooges featuring Moe, Larry and Curly as bumbling, bionic super heroes. The show was produced by Hanna-Barbera.

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The show originally ran as a segment on the variety show, The Skatebirds. The Skatebirds format was extremely similar to The Banana Splits.

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The bionic enhancements to the Stooges gave them abilities that were very similar to Inspector Gadget. Extending limbs, hidden gadgets, plus the letters on their chests were actually hidden doors that open to allow the Stooges to get supplies and objects they needed for their adventures.

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Also Curly seemed to be stretchy and inflatable. Many episodes featured him getting filled with hot air and blowing away.

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The show was wacky and fun. The Stooges would bumble their way through stopping thieves and mad scientists. Often times succeeding despite screwing everything up.

The Skatebirds was cancelled at the end of 1977. However, The Robonic Stooges was popular enough to get their own show after the cancellation. However, it would be cancelled by Spring 1978 and shown in reruns for the next few years. That’s how I watched the show, in reruns in the early-to-mid 1980s.

The voice cast was very good. Unfortunately, all of the original Stooges were dead by the time the show was in production, so Moe was voiced by the great Paul Winchell, Larry by Joe Baker and Curly by Frank Welker who did a variation on his JabberJaw voice.

Another show similar to this (but no robots) was Super Globetrotters. It was another way to make real life celebrities into cartoon super heroes. And it, too, was awesome.

Episodes of this show are pretty hard to come by online. There are some clips on YouTube, but that’s about it.

Here is a shortened version of the show’s intro.

Here’s a clip of the Stooges inflating a giant inflatable battleship.

Robots around the League:
– Shawn talks about a robot used to sell Hitachi VCRs
– The Goodwill Geek shows us his awesome robot collection
– The Nerd Nook lists their top 10 pop culture robots

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Spending my kid’s college tuition on Hake’s Auction #209

Posted in Batman, comic books, movies, nostalgia, pop culture, Superman, TV shows with tags Batman, comic books, LEB, movies, pop culture, Star Trek, Star Wars, Superman, Wizard of Oz on July 12, 2013 by Paxton

This week’s assignment for The League is to browse Hake’s Auction #209 and find all the cool stuff we’d buy if we were rolling in dough like P-Diddy. So I spent my fair share of time at work this week perusing the enormous auction catalog and came up with some stuff that I would like to buy. Assuming, of course, that money is no object.

There were several awesome Star Wars items I found interesting. Firstly, the C3POs cereal lot featuring a full size C3PO standee and three box flats. I have always had a fascination with this particular cereal and the ephemera it created. These are particularly good examples of that. The seven Star Wars Coca-Cola promotional posters are also pretty awesome. Four of them are from Burger Chef/Burger King giveaways in 1977 and feature Del Nichols artwork. Three of them feature Boris Vallejo artwork and were to promote the release of Empire Strikes Back. Finally, I am in wet, sloppy love with the full size Return of the Jedi Burger King glasses Darth Vader standee (1983).

There were lots of comic book and super hero related items that I want. Tops on that list would probably be The Great Comic Book Heroes book from 1965. It’s signed by several comic luminaries like Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Bob Kane, Shelly Moldoff and Will Eisner. Yes, the creators of both Superman AND Batman signed this thing. Plus, I’ve looked at this book before and it’s pretty awesome.

Speaking of Superman and Batman, I found several items featuring those heroes that rock my Casbah. The boxed Mego Superman doll from 1977 is particularly awesome because I’m kind of in love with the packaging art. And the art on the 1954 Superman metal lunchbox is pretty close to melting my eyeballs out of my head and that’s only the picture. And these Mego Comic Action Heroes figures from 1975 (in package!) are also incredible. And speaking of incredible, check out the awesomely weird and bizarre cover to issue #33 of the comic World’s Finest. Why the hell is Superman spinning Batman and Robin in the air WITH HIS FEET?! I love the Golden Age. I also would buy Flash #147 featuring the second appearance of Reverse Flash with a great cover homage to Flash #123. I actually already own Reverse Flash’s first appearance in Flash #139. And what will I put all of these comics in when I own them? That’s right, my very own g***amn comic spinner rack from the late 70s. I’ve wanted one of those retail spinner racks ever since I started collecting comics in the early 80s. Continue reading →

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Nerd Lunch Episode 93: Pop Culture Eraser 2

Posted in Batman, movies, podcast, pop culture, TV shows with tags Batman, Karate Kid, movies, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcasts, pop culture, TV shows on July 9, 2013 by Paxton

This week JEEG IS BACK and we are joined again by Brian from Cool and Collected. This week we do a topic that I missed the first time out, The Pop Culture Eraser.

We are each allowed to erase 1 person and 1 thing from existence. But we also have to envision how that would affect the pop culture landscape. Jeeg was pretty bold with his choices but some of the things that get erased are the 60s Batman series, Jay Leno and Christopher Nolan. The fun in this discussion is how this would affect pop culture in general after these things have been erased.

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

Or listen to it online right here.

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Cult Film Club Episode 8: Karate Kid Part III

Posted in 80s, movies, nostalgia, pop culture, sequels with tags Cult Film Club, Karate Kid, movies, nostalgia, podcasts, pop culture, sequels on June 26, 2013 by Paxton

We pulled a sneak attack on you guys. Just when you thought CFC was going to miss our June episode, BOOM, here we are with under the wire with Episode 8 in which we talk about our first sequel, Karate Kid Part III.

There is just so much to love in this retardedly bad movie. Terry Silver, the return of Kreese, “Karate’s Bad Boy” Mike Barnes, Daniel-san forgetting everything he’s learned from the first two movies, Snake and extremely valuable grand daddy banzai trees. It’s all there and Jaime, Shawn and I cover ALL of it because we unabashedly love every single moment in this film. If we could, we’d review this movie every week.

So, download the latest CFC episode from iTunes or listen to it online right here.

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