DEFENDERS OF THE EARTH! Appreciation AND Continuity Order

Community Other Cartoons & Collectables
281

Oh yes, I have plenty of DVDs as well - but fortunately, they are already up on shelves down in the living room. The CDs are all on display now in the bedroom, and I still haven’t fully taken it in just how many there are!

Of course, there’s still all my books, most of which are now in the attic. I have nowhere near enough space for all of them!

Speaking of ‘When Marnie Was There’, sadly rumour has it that it might be Studio Ghibli’s last movie they make. One of the founders who wrote and directed most of their best films has retired and some of the last few films have not been overly successful financially. It’s a real shame as the stories and animation are great, but seemingly the vast majority of audiences would rather throw their money away to go see over the top big budget pieces of crap like Transformers and Maleficent etc. Forget great writing, acting, characters and animation when they can go see the latest CGI rubbish that they will only sit and complain about all over the internet later about how bad it was. That mentality really confuses me. I have a lot of friends on Facebook that are Transformers fans and they do nothing but slag Michael Bay off then they spend money to go and see his films which makes them successful financially then complain about how much they hate him and how bad it was.:confused:

Yeah, that is a bit odd. “What a load of rubbish - can’t wait for the sequel!” There’s no such thing as a must-see film (or TV show). If you don’t want to watch it, that’s your choice, if it’s not your thing, or you’ve seen the previous one and didn’t like it, why bother? It’s like that scene in Star Trek Generations where Data has that emotion chip installed and tests out emotional responses in Ten-Forward. He has a drink and he hates it, but when offered more, accepts eagerly!

282

I can just imagine a line of people outside a cinema in Japan.
‘‘Hey lets go see that new Ghibli movie, you know it will be good’’.
‘‘No everyone is talking about how bad this movie is lets go see it and see if they are correct’’.

I suppose on the plus side at least all the reviews of ‘When Marnie Was There’ have been good so even if they do call it a day at least their last film will be critically acclaimed for quality even if it didn’t make millions to rival the summer blockbusters.

283

I guess!

I’m knackered after my 15-mile walk for the 40th time this year (I keep a log).

Considering that a depression attack hit me yesterday and I’m still shaking it off, I was quite amazed when, on the way home, some inspiration struck me for the song I’m working on.

I may have mentioned that I need to give the chorus a new melody, well I suddenly remembered another melody that’s been lying around the back of my head for about as long as the verse melody has, and is rhythmically a match for that melody and so might well go together. Early tests indicate they do.

The only problem is, the tune I have is only the first half of a chorus so far, and whatever else I come up with, I’ll still need to reshape the lyrics! Oh well, getting there!

284

Hope it goes well. I really need to get back into my cross training and cycling. Lately all I have had chance for is the odd walk.

285

I’ll let you know how it pans out. It’s probably going to lie dormant in the back of my head for a while and then come to me from nowhere in a few weeks or something.

I still think it’s weird that these two melodies that I’ve had lying around unused for about the same length of time are fitting together and I’ve never before even considered putting them together! Maybe because, despite their having the same tempo, I thought of one of them as a ballad and the other as a rocker! I need to get those drums out of my head on that chorus tune!

I listened to the first disc of “Death On The Nile” this afternoon, and am going to put the second one on in a moment, just as soon as I’ve made some hot choc.

286

Well with the way the weather is here I will have plenty of time to sit and read ‘When Marnie Was There’ while the rain lashes against my window…rather fitting I suppose for reading a ghost story.

Did you get chance to watch Misery?

287

Not yet - thanks for reminding me. I listened to “Death On The Nile” yesterday, and what with one thing and another got very little sleep last night. I might well watch it with my dinner tonight.

288

You should. In my opinion it’s brilliant and I really love it but it will be interesting to hear what you think of it.

This is a bit unrelated but I seen ‘Anchorman 2’ yesterday and I thought it was absolutely terrible. Thankfully renting it only cost me 99p. I still think it was a waste of 99p but at least it wasn’t more. If I was going to mark it out of 10 I would give it 2/10. Mainly just because there was 1 funny scene and Harrison Ford made a cameo aside from that there was nothing else good about it. The trailer makes it look a lot better than it is.

289

As it turned out, the .avi file was unplayable, so I had to use YTD to convert it into a playable format (.wmv) - too late to start by the time it had finished the job, so I’ll try again, hopefully during the week.

This is a bit unrelated but I seen ‘Anchorman 2’ yesterday and I thought it was absolutely terrible. Thankfully renting it only cost me 99p. I still think it was a waste of 99p but at least it wasn’t more. If I was going to mark it out of 10 I would give it 2/10. Mainly just because there was 1 funny scene and Harrison Ford made a cameo aside from that there was nothing else good about it. The trailer makes it look a lot better than it is.

Most trailers over-sell the pictures - that’s sort of their job!

I haven’t seen either Anchorman film. Probably not my thing anyway.

I ordered a couple of CDs online the other day, one of them arrived on saturday - which I found odd, because they were both ordered from the same seller, and the packaging it arrived in was big enough for two. Someone’s had a lapse in logic there, methinks!

290

I finally tracked down a rare art book last week that I have been after for quite a while. Some books on this artist are out of print now and the only current one is a bit too expensive for a book (£35-65) but I found a cheap used one on Amazon for £2.

I think you will like Misery, but as I said it will be interesting to hear what you thought of it.

291

Nice one! I’ve had that happen a few times too. That’s the beauty of the internet, makes the hard-to-find easy to find. Most of the time.

I think you will like Misery, but as I said it will be interesting to hear what you thought of it.

Good, although a bit disturbing. Not the sort of thing I’d watch often.

It was fairly obvious where things were going to go. I could tell she was going to be the obsessive fan, and that penguin, I thought, “have you put it back in the right direction?” Even right at the end, when he starts crawling out, I thought, “no, you haven’t made sure she’s dead!” - and sure enough, one last struggle ensues a moment later.

The broken legs reminded me of Hitcchock’s “Rear Window”, but even more claustrophobic.

Nice to see a distinctly unglamorous cast - you’d never get that nowadays, shame. But these people were picked for their acting abilities.

Hard to believe it was directed by Rob Reiner, the same guy who directed “When Harry Met Sally”! On this occasion, I’ll definitely NOT have what she’s having, thanks!

292

Rob Reiner also did ‘Stand By Me’ it was due to the way he directed it that King was happy to let him direct ‘Misery’ as previous movie adaptions were not exactly true to the books.
Although one big change in ‘Misery’ the book compared to the film is that Annie Wilkes doesn’t break his legs. She chops one foot off with an axe and cauterises it with a blow torch if I recall correctly, it has been nearly a decade since I read it.
Having said that though as much as I think the books are superior to the films, there is a couple exceptions where I think the film is better than the book. In the case of King, making Red in Shawshank black and letting Morgan Freeman play him was a good call. In the book he is called Red because of his Red hair. Although they are not exactly true to the book ‘The Shinning’ and ‘Needful Things’ I think are better than the books.
Kathy Bates won an Oscar for her portrayal of Annie Wilkes.
James Caan was always in more active films and the frustration he felt being stuck in the chair so much really comes across in the film.

Another Claustrophobic style thriller by King would be ‘Cujo’ which is also really worth a watch. It is also very true to the book. It was the first Stephen King book I read back in 2004.

I still have a few more DOTE to finish watching then I will have finished the series.

293

I was actually thinking about “Escape From Mongo” earlier today, and how they should have done it.

Basically make a few changes to bring it a bit more in line with the comic version.

First off, the last 5min are an add-on, and should be chucked. Replace it with a bit more negotiating to get the Phantom on board. Now, the comic does that before the rescue mission to Mongo, but they still slightly botched it . . .

Have Lothar announce that Flash’s ship needs a lot of repairwork doing on it. In the meantime, Mandrake can grill Flash deeper on Ming’s motives about invading the earth, and that can bring them onto the subject of uniting to stop him - and then they can wonder if they will be enough, and Mandrake can bring up the legend of the Ghost Who Walks. Leaving Lothar behind to fix the swordship, Flash & Mandrake can take a copter to the jungle, and negotiate with the Phantom that way, and actually show the negotiations!

294

Yes t always seemed very rushed how they brought the team together. It would have been far better having Phantom take part in their first mission. Also it would have been better having their kids play far lesser roles in the first couple episodes. Also it would have been nice if they had let Dale live or at least one of the Defenders have a mother figure as a permanent cast member.

295

Especially rushed when you chop off the abduction of Rick and LJ! Get rid of that and there’s room to expand, as I illustrated.

296

It really could have been longer like in two parts. It was a very busy episode.

Also I liked Dynak-X but I don’t think the inclusion of Dale’s essence was necessary as it was only ever really mentioned again in ‘Bits’n’Chips’. Having said that ‘Bits’n’Chips’ is still one of my favourite episodes.

297

That’s one of the reasons I put “Bits ‘N’ Chips” right after “The Creation Of Monitor” in my continuity order!

Actually, there is one other sort-of allusion to Dynak being Dale, at the start of “The Revenge Of Astra” - the interplay between Dynak and Flash:

DYNAK: . . . I control the craft, not Glamour Boy
FLASH: Can’t you tell she’s crazy about me!

298

It does seem rather pointless when it was never elaborated on more.
Maybe if they were keeping her alive with various computers etc and put her inside the computer etc it would have made more sense. Something like the Bionic man or Centurions but instead a person becoming a super computer.

299

Actually, what they should have done with the first episode is START it on Mongo, see Rick and Dale being captured and Flash only just managing to escape with his life. That would have been better.

Also, what you were saying about the lack of mothers in general in the show. Aside from Dale, who we saw perish, we know Kshin’s biological parents are both dead, and I suspect Mandrake has never married (although he may have been tempted by Atascadero back in the day).

As for LJ and Jedda’s mothers, we don’t know.

It’s logical to assume Jedda’s mother is dead. It’s implied in the comic strip version of the pilot, but not quite stated. And it makes sense. You can’t imagine The Phantom’s wife leaving/divorcing him and letting him keep custody of their daughter in the jungle like that, with all that danger that his life is exposed to. Even if the bloodline must be preserved, she wouldn’t leave her daughter. A son maybe, if he was old enough to understand what he was deciding, but not a daughter. There’s a certain bond between mothers and daughters like that. (That sounds a bit sexist, but you know what I mean.)

But there’s nothing either way regarding LJ’s mother. She’s never mentioned at all. Lothar may be widowed or divorced. He’s the character we know the least about.

Here’s one for you - did you ever see a cartoon on I think ITV called C.O.P.S.? Yes, it is an acronym and an accurate description of the heroes, an elite team of about ten top police specialists (although some of these specialisms are just a bit iffy, why do you need a motorcycle patrolman on such a team? Or a regular beat cop?), and the bad guys also have an acronym, C.R.O.O.K.S. - yeah, sounds dodgy.

I saw a handful of episodes back in the early 1990s (the date on the credits says 1988, but it took a couple of years to reach my eyes).

Out of curiosity, I watched the two-part pilot yesterday on veoh (there’s only one episode on youtube). After seeing the first regular episode on youtube. For some reason, like Spiral Zone, the pilot isn’t the first episode in airdate order, it’s episodes 8-9, according to wikipedia (and also the vid site veoh didn’t seem to list it as episodes 1-2, there were episodes before and after). Funny that I made the comparison to Spiral Zone, considering how few episodes of either show I saw, but still remembered both! Of course, C.O.P.S. was shown over here, and a few years later, so I’ll probably recognise more definitely the few episodes I did see.

Anyhow, the pilot was a bit iffy, but the regular episode seemed OK. I’ll have to watch a few more to make up my mind. It’s one of those shows where not all the main characters are in every episode - indeed, only the head of C.O.P.S., Bulletproof, is in every single episode. Each regular episode usually features about three or four of the regular good guys, and likewise about as many of the regular bad guys - oh, that reminds me, the head of C.R.O.O.K.S., Big Boss, has a voice reminiscent of Doctor Kalihari, although it’s probably not the same actor. Big Boss is played by Len Carlson, and I think Kalihari was voiced by William Callaway (after all, Ming was absent from that episode).

OK, with that said and done, I’ll surf on over to veoh and watch a few more episodes and decide.

300

They really should have had one of the characters’ Mother on the team or at least seen at Mandrake’s Mansion or living at Monitor.

I remember C.O.P.S. I never seen it on TV that often but I do recall seeing and recording a couple episodes of CITV in the mornings over the Easter/Summer holidays in the early 90’s. I didn’t see an awful lot of it but I did enjoy what I seen.
I mostly seen C.O.P.S. when I got a compilation video, I had a few I recall getting them in Woolworths. The tapes consisted of three episodes from different Hasbro properties. Mostly Transformers, G.I. Joe and C.O.P.S.
I also had two separate tapes of C.O.P.S. one had 2x episodes (I recall the last episode was all about Sundown) and the other tape, called The Movie, had 4x episodes and the first two on the tape were the two you speak of showing the Origin of the team forming.
I recall the episode showing Bulletproof’s origin was on one of the compilation tapes.
Another episode on the tapes, I can’t recall the name, but I believe when the episode starts they say it’s ‘The case of the bogus justice machines’ in which there are some weird Robocopish machines going around dishing out justice. If I remember correctly Mace and Barricade are tied up and reason with one of them.
I never seen any of the toys from the show in the shops over here, I remember desperately looking Woolworths on one occasion for them. If I had seen any I would have grabbed one. Even after getting back into collecting I never came a cross any or oddly enough never actively sought out to get any of them.
My favourite good guy characters from the show were Bulletproof, Sundown, Barricade and I can’t recall his name but the buy in black that drove a vehicle…going from memory during the opening credits he is sitting whistling in the vehicle when one of the crooks crashes on top of or in front of him and he pursues them.
This really brought back memories I think I shall start watching some episode of it again…and giving ebay and amazon a look. :wink: :smiley: Only joking, no more collecting…except maybe a couple Bravestarr items I would like to get MISB.

An interesting thing about the toys is that much like Visionaries were larger than G.I. Joes, C.O.P.S. were larger again as they were at least 6" and had a cap firing feature, much like the Robocop tops that were out at the same time.

Another interesting point about C.O.P.S. is that Bulletproof’s name was used for a character in the G.I. Joe toyline and comic, also a black cop who was part of the anti-drug squad. I think it is same to say they are in the same world and once the character was finished with the Joes went back to the force and became a detective and head of C.O.P.S. Also another character is related to Beachhead from G.I. Joe.
Wayne R. “CheckPoint” Sneeden III - A military officer who grew up in Alabama. He works for the United States Army and joins forces with COPS. Very fearful, nervous, anxious, but stays on the case with the team anyway to help get the job done. His toy File Card says his “father was a member of a top-secret military team in the 80’s and 90’s”, referencing G.I. Joe character Beach Head (AKA Wayne R. Sneeden)[