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Watching Any Good Serials?
Topic Started: Apr 12 2006, 09:28 AM (88,351 Views)
Chandu
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Champeen of Justice and Seeker of Knowledge, but rascal at heart!
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Two more chapters of Mysterious Island under my belt and I've at long last learned what the hottie and her two henches from Mercury are doing there. They claim to be looking for a mineral that only exists on Earth. The same ol' cover story all aliens use in serials, but I ain't seen no evidence of any diggin' yet nor any shovels lyin' around, eitther. Hmmmmmm, one might wonder, if the mineral only exists on Earth, how did they find out about it on Mercury, but I digress.

The Girly-men try to make friends with our heroes, but Gene Roth and his band of cutthroats nix that after being informed about it by the wacko wild man. We also discover our mystery figure in the futuristic motorcycle helmet possesses some sort of gas gun, which is good at long range, so it must fire some sort of gas cannister. Maybe this is the the forerunner of the Green Hornet's weapon.

My favorite scene so far: The heroes capture the pirate's skiff and row out to the pirate ship in the hope there are only a couple of guards left on board, who (or whom?) they can overpower and steal the ship. Unfortunately, they're badly outnumbered and taken captive, but instead of just tossing them in the drink, making them walk a plank, or whatever pirates are prone to do in those situations, the pirates put them back in the skiff, which is still tied to the pirate ship. The order is then given to load the cannon!? Our heroes are sitting there fat, dumb and happy in the skiff and couldn't have drifted more than 8 - 10 feet away from the pirate ship (the length of the rope) and the pirates fire at them with a cannon! To make such a point blank shot, the pirates would've had to physically lift the cannon off the deck and point it vertically over the rail to draw a bead on the skiff, no doubt having the cannon ball roll out of the barrel and fall into the drink at the same time. Even if such a thing were possible, the recoil from the cannon alone would've probably killed a half dozen of them, or so. They'd have probably had better luck just dropping the cannon on our heroes. Anyway, the shot naturally misses and the heroes cut themselves loose from the ship and row back to the island without further incident. Meanwhile, I'm falling out of my chair from laughing so hard. This is quickly becoming my all-time favorite serial and I'm going to be disappointed to see it end.
Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me...
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Don Diego
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Chandu, I thought they were from Mercry -- How is your copy of the serial?
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The Batman
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Finished off MYSTERY SQUADRON on the weekend. A typical, charming and fun-to-watch Mascot serial.

Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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Vornoff
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I'm 3 chapters into OVERLAND MAIL with Lon Chaney as the good guy. He looks trim and fit in his black outfit with white hat. I'm impressed with his being able to act like a really nice guy hero and it looks like he can ride a horse with the best of 'em. Good support from his pals Noah Beery Jr and Don Terry. I'm looking forward to the scenes with both Beery Jr and his dad Noah in them.
Helen Parrish is cute but so far underused and no closeups. Of course with the crappy Alpha dvd I'm watching I don't know if closeups would be any better than longshots. I know there's a supposedly better VCI dvd out there but then I'd have to order it, pay for it & wait and I'm in the mood for OT NOW!
Good villains, also. Noah Beery goes without saying - doing his usual thing that the Beery bros always did - playing likeable villains that really play the good guys. Charles Stevens is also enjoyable as a nasty Indian leading his fake Indian bad guy white guys.
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"Doctor of nothing!"
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Chandu
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Champeen of Justice and Seeker of Knowledge, but rascal at heart!
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Don Diego
Nov 2 2008, 04:15 PM
Chandu, I thought they were from Mercry -- How is your copy of the serial?
The hottie and her two henchmen claim to be from the planet, Mercury. I noticed last night the henchmen are wearing Spider head garb. I wonder if he had a fan club on Mercury?

Another great scene last night too. A pirate brings some food to the wildman and one of our heroes, whom they've just captured. They're in a cabin just slightly larger than an outhouse (no doubt purposely and hastily constructed for this scene). There's alot of straw scattered about on the floor of the cabin and although there's already plenty of light in the room, the pirate lights a lantern which happens to be innocently sitting on the table, which is the only scrap of furniture in the place. Well, guess what's gonna happen? Yep, you guessed it, as soon as the pirate unties the prisoners so they can eat, a fist fight breaks out and darn, the lantern gets toppled and catches the straw on fire! I've never seen a serial before where everything's so obvious. At least the lantern should've already been lit, giving the impresssion that it was furnishing the light in the room. I'm tellin ya, this is the funnest thing I've watched for quite some time.

My copy of the serial is just fine. Very watchable. Another excellent product from Rodney.
Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me...
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Mantan
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Could someone please post a link to Rodney's site?
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KanSmiley
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Mantan
Nov 3 2008, 03:30 PM
Could someone please post a link to Rodney's site?
Gravy is gonna be angry at you for not checking his Links Page but here is Rodney's website:

http://www.oldiedvd.com/

Kan
http://www.saturday-matinee-memories.com/

intoxicated, adj.: When you feel sophisticated without being able to pronounce it.
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Mantan
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KanSmiley
Nov 3 2008, 03:38 PM
Gravy is gonna be angry at you for not checking his Links Page but here is Rodney's website:

http://www.oldiedvd.com/

Kan
Gravy?
Mad at me?
Aw heck that'd be old news, Kan
Actually I read the main page often and check the links, too but somehow I overlooked the link for Rodney's site.
Thanks for supplying same!
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Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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Watched chapter 5 of Dick Tracy. Dick catches a ride with Elmer and Oscar. I've never heard of them before but they obviously do a hick routine and one of them does it with a stutter. The stutterring one tells Dick to hold onto his ass, as he shifts his car into a higher gear. The mad doctor/henchman wants to transplant his cat's brain into a human. Too bad he can't fix that hump on his back! Dick escapes from the Spider's lair out of a window, alas, the window through which he escapes is different on the inside of the house than the outside! A few chapters back, Smiley Burnette yanks the young boy by his shirt out of the camera view. It looked to me like Smiley yanked too hard. I'm still enjoying this one, although Chandu makes me want to watch Mysterious Island.
It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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Don Daredevil
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Old Fart
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Chandu
Nov 3 2008, 01:02 PM
The hottie and her two henchmen claim to be from the planet, Mercury. I noticed last night the henchmen are wearing Spider head garb. I wonder if he had a fan club on Mercury?

They're also wearing Flash Gordon shirts. :)
Edited by Don Daredevil, Nov 3 2008, 07:56 PM.
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mort bakaprevski
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Don Daredevil
Nov 3 2008, 07:54 PM
Chandu
Nov 3 2008, 01:02 PM
The hottie and her two henchmen claim to be from the planet, Mercury. I noticed last night the henchmen are wearing Spider head garb. I wonder if he had a fan club on Mercury?

They're also wearing Flash Gordon shirts. :)
Good old Western Costume Co. Haven't been there in decades, but you used to be able to find the most amazing portions of old movie costumes!!
"Nov Shmoz Ka Pop."
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Chandu
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Champeen of Justice and Seeker of Knowledge, but rascal at heart!
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I've finished Mysterious Island and it has to be one of the best and oddest serials I've ever had the pleasure of watching. The first 8 or 9 chapters are devoted to introducing all of the loony and widely dissimilar characters who are going to be involved in the final outcome of the serial. There's plenty of action in each chapter, but all the while I was trying to figure out which loony or loonies would turn out to be the villains and which ones, if any, would side with the heroes. There's seems to be no real nefarious motive to drive a villain in the first chapters either, although the players all have their own purposes. Then there are certainly more technical gaffs than usual to keep you amused too. I'm not going to spoil it for anyone by giving away the real plot or villains, but if you haven't yet seen this serial, give yourself a treat and watch it. I think you'll find it just as entertaining as I did.
Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me...
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Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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Chapter 9 of The Three Musketeers. Tom John Wayne spends much time in jail in this serial, but he's out long enough to do a little fightin', horse ridin' and spyin' to find El Shaitan. Who's the big Musketeer? Francis X. Bushman? Always eating some sausage or something, even while he's fightin', funny stuff. It seems as though the villian has been determined already, but I'm being cautious about that, especially after the serials I've already seen where the villian isn't unmasked until the final chapter, and all ya get is Red Herring and Red Herring as fake villians.
It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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The Batman
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Finished off THE SCARLETT HORSEMAN, a fun one, and have started THE SEA HOUND. Flash Gordon in the water!
Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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Laughing Gravy
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I haven't watched a serial in eons, practically, so I'm trying to get caught up and at least finish ones I've started. Today's breathless dialog, from episode 8 of The Vanishing Legion, comes from a forward-thinking attorney, who says, "I don't want you to get arrested until I've had time to prepare your defense!"
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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