View allAll Photos Tagged rocketman
Mom is on the side on the computer. Rocket is next to mom laying in front of the air from the AC...LOL I love my dogs...they do have a sense of humor!!!! :) Stay cool everyone...Rocket is!! If I even move....his eye opens....mom can't go anywhere without Rocket's permission!!! LOL
L to R:
"Gundark"- Squad communications expert. Not strong enough to rip the ears off a gundark, but could certainly out-listen one.
Major Tako- De facto squad leader. A mercenary (he prefers "career soldier") who fought on both sides of the Clone Wars. A bit shell-shocked after the Bothawui campaign.
Luma Dasun- Sniper. Her RT-97C has been modified to Tatooine and back- she claims to have once shot a Moff through two layers of transparisteel at a distance of five kilometers. Only Tako can corroborate this, but he stubornly claims to have beaten a Wookiee in an arm-wrestling match.
Finn Kelso- The newest member of Wampa Squad. The rest of the squad takes great pleasure in reminding him that their last rocketman completely disintegrated when his jetpack was hit by enemy fire.
Boy when I got home from work today it was blizzarding like crazy!!! Rocket could not wait to get out and have some fun!!! I just love his fun spirit....Penny said "no way!" She isn't quite so fond of snow...she's experienced it for 5 years! LOL Well I'm starting to get worried about the trip to Great Falls....Sam says we'll just take his truck which is 4 wheel drive...I don't feel quite so excited about it...I hate traveling in bad weather...it's no joke and dangerous. :P
I had a brilliant afternoon on Saturday 9th July 2022 visiting the vintage Carters Steam Fair at Pedestal Field in West Wycombe! My dad and I arrived early and were invited in to take some photos before they opened to the public, and then obviously we stayed to see these brilliant old rides in action! Founded in 1977 by the late John Carter, Carters Steam Fair is a travelling fair consisting of a large collection of beautifully restored vintage rides and sidestalls, ranging in date from the 1870s to the 1960s, transported by vintage heavy lorries and traditional showmen's living wagons (which are just as cool as the rides!) The fair is now managed by John’s son Joby who I saw there.
Anyone who watches the current version of Worzel Gummidge with Mackenzie Crook will be familiar with the fair from the most recent Christmas special! And it was here at Pedestal Field in West Wycombe that they actually filmed the Worzel Gummidge episode! It has also featured in the films 28 Days Later, The Theory of Everything, Paddington 2, and Rocketman.
The fair is based near Maidenhead so mainly travels around the South East every year. Sadly this is their final season as a travelling fair so of course I had to visit them again on their final tour! Of the rides my favourites are the steam powered Victorian “Jubilee Steam Gallopers” and Edwardian “Steam Yachts”, and of course everyone loves the dodgem cars!
Created in DALL-E 3.
"North Korea is Best Korea!"
See more here: www.youtube.com/@journeymanplayer7459
Rocket is feeling much better...still not quite there though...but getting there!!! The vet said some of the medications they used for the surgery are still wearing off and he should be feeling pretty well by the weekend. But it's so snowy and mushy out that I'll be keeping him in abit longer from too much activity. :)
I have to thank my sister for this one - she gave me this record for Christmas years ago. The music is actually sort of enjoyable - it's Star Wars music, disco-style. Oh man, just look at that cover art - there is much boogie going on in space. I love the girl's glass bubble helmet.
Quote from the back:
"The logistics of teleporting all the musicians from their home planets, or Translating Computers, the Laser Energizers and the Photron System courtesy of TELE-CON Ptz 88.4 (Eart Rep: Tony Blacca)"
Illustration by Robert Rodriguez, release 1977
The French coastal rain & wind made firespin images impossible.. so we'll be back to La batterie de Zuydcote and we'll make it rain FIRE & SPARKS.
...with Blues and Romance!
If you want versatility in your entertainment, a place to feel like you belong then we are the place for you. If you want the best DJs playing for you everyday the sexiest tunes to have you swoon, DJs that live it as they play it then Tudors Dance Club is what you're looking for. Our Hostesses are welcoming and sweet and the mood is always a change from the mundane and dull of SL! Today's schedule:
Dress Code: Smart Casual
DJ Norbert/Hostess Sen: 10AM-12PM SLT
DJ Dani/Hostess Rose: 12-2PM SLT
DJ Rocketman /Hostess Ruby: 2-4PM SLT
Limo: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tudors/182/62/28
Tudors Flickr: www.flickr.com/groups/14817141@N24/
Tudors Discord: discord.gg/B84JJc8g
Rocket Man
Elton John
She packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour nine a.m.
And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then
I miss the earth so much I miss my wife
It's lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight
Went to Goulburn last night after work with Ant and Ian to shoot this church. We got there for an amazing sunset, and then the clouds cleared and the milky Way popped up right behind the church. Got lucky and either got a shooting star (there were so many) or a plane in this one. I've only increased the contrast and vibrance in this...otherwise, prettymuch straight out of the camera. Genius thinking from Ant to light the church using the headlights from the passing cars on the highway. 10/10 for thinking of this mate
© Angela M. Lobefaro
All Ritghts Reserved
RIPRODUZIONE RISERVATA
listen to: Adele
via Youtube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HKoqNJtMTQ
skip the AD if you prefer...
Boy yesterday and today's weather says it all!!! Hopefully Summer is here!!! I was out in the yard getting some sun and looked over at Rocket...sunshine was pure bliss for him but I looked at the temperature and we're heading for 90!!!
Rocketman / one shot
cover: Iger Shop
> Rocketman / Wings of Evil (art: Charles Quinlan ?)
reprints from Planet Comics (Fiction House) #4 (April 1940)
Farrell Comics / USA 1952
Reprint / Comic-Club NK 2010
ex libris MTP
This abridgement of Universal's 12-episode serial Buck Rogers stars Buster Crabbe as Dick Calkins' famed comic-strip space adventurer. Buck and Buddy (Jackie Moran) and are recruited to battle against modernistic gangster Killer Kane (Anthony Warde), by Wilma Deering (Constance Moore) and Dr. Huer (C. Montague Shaw). The duo travels to Saturn to get help in their mission, and after Buck and Buddy quell the internal struggles of the Saturnians, Buck triumphs over Killer Kane and his cosmic thugs.
Planet Outlaws Feature link: youtu.be/UD3xKy42KUY
Link to all 12 Serial Episodes:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTtc-u3zFGk&feature=share&...
Starring Buster Crabbe, Constance Moore, Jackie Moran, Jack Mulhall, Anthony Warde, C. Montague Shaw, Guy Usher, William Gould, Philson Ahn. Directed by Ford Beebe, Saul A. Goodkind.
Buck Rogers and Buddy Wade are in the middle of a trans-polar dirigible flight when they are caught in a blizzard and crash. Buddy then releases a special gas to keep them in suspended animation until a rescue party can arrive. However, an avalanche covers the craft and the two are in suspended animation for 500 years. When they are found, they awake to find out that the world has been taken over by the outlaw army of Killer Kane. Along with Lieutenant Wilma Deering, Buck and Buddy join in the fight to overthrow Kane and with the help of Prince Tallen of Saturn and his forces, they eventually do and Earth is free of Kane's grip.
This is actually a pretty enjoyable serial, but it seems doomed to be forever overshadowed by the much superior Flash Gordon trilogy. Universal brought BUCK ROGERS out in 1939, in between their own chapterplays FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS and FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE; it also starred Buster Crabbe (but with his natural dark hair instead of Flash's golden curls) and although it is filled with space ships and weird gadgets, BUCK ROGERS lacks most of the elements that gave the Flash serials their intense emotional draw.
For one thing, there is none of the strong sexual charge that the Flash series had. Instead of nubile Dale Arden and sultry Princess Aura both competing for the hero's attention while the villain openly lusted for the heroine, Buck's epic featured Constance Moore as Col. Wilma Deering. Now, Moore is perfectly fine in her role, but she is after all a soldier in the resistance army and not a fair damsel in distress. She has a nice moment when she wrests a ray gun away from a guard and blasts her way out of her cell, but she and Buck seem to be merely chums on the same side.
Also, although BUCK ROGERS has plenty of futuristic gadgets (rayguns and buzzing spaceships which shoot sparks from their backs, teleportation tubes and invisibility rays), there are no grotesque monsters or nonhuman alien races on view. Prisoners have remarkably goofy metal helmets strapped on which turn them into docile zombies, and there are these homely goons called Zuggs moping around, but that's hardly as fascinating as Lion Men and Clay People and horned apes (that Orangapoid critter).
What's ironic about all this is that the comic strip BUCK ROGERS by Philip Nolan and Richard Calkins started in 1929, was immensely popular for many years and it success inspired the creation of Flash. Yet the Flash strip benefitted from the genius of Alex Raymond, one of the all-time great cartoon artists, and it produced stunning visual images (from the samples of Buck's strip I've seen, it was imaginative enough but pretty crude and drab). This contrast carried over to the serials.
Buck Rogers and his sidekick Buddy Wade (Jackie Moran) are pilots who crash in the Arctic in1938 and survive for 500 years because the 'Nirvano' gas they were carrying put them in a state of suspended animation. They both seem to adapt to waking up in the year 2424 pretty well, where I would think most people would be so traumatized it would take a while to adjust. In this dystopic future, the Earth is ruled by a mega-gangster called Killer Kane (another setback; Anthony Warde would be okay as a crimelord but he just doesn't have the imposing presence to convince me this guy can dominate an entire planet).
Luckily, Buck and Buddy have been found by the small resistance movement hopelessly trying to overthrow Kane from their hidden city. Here is Dr Huer (C. Montague Shaw, who I just saw in the UNDERSEA KINGDOM doing the same gig with his wild inventions) and Wilma Deering leading the good fight. For some reason I missed, everyone immediately puts all their trust in Buck and he pretty much takes over. (Maybe he's just one of those charismatic alpha males or something.) Most of the serial involves desperate trips back and forth to Saturn to enlist the aid of the isolationist Saturnians, and this means running the blockade of Kane's ships. The usual fistfights and explosions and captures and escapes normal for this sort of situation ensue. It's a lot of fun if you take it on its own terms, with a strong linear plot and likeable heroes, but it really never kicks into high gear and seems a bit drab.
It's interesting that some (but not all) of the Saturnians are played by Asian actors. Prince Tallen, who gets caught up in most of the fun, was portrayed by a very young Philson Ahn, and I thought for years this was the same guy who in 1972 impressed us as the head of the Shaolin Temple in TV's KUNG FU (he taught all the styles, really amazing if you think about it). Turns out that was Phiip Ahn, Philson's brother.
Dir: Ford Beebe and Saul A. Goodkind - 12 Chapters
BUCK ROGERS (1939): Director Ford Beebe, who also worked on Flash Gordon (1938), came straight from The Phantom Creeps (1939) and then went back to finish Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe (1940). Buck Rogers stars Buster Crabbe or, as his family knew him, Lawrence. Now, Lawrence ‘Larry’ ‘Buster’ Crabbe had previously starred in two Flash Gordon serials, a couple of Tarzan movies and a long string of westerns, so it was only natural for Universal to decide he was perfect as the heroic Buck Rogers, aka that blonde guy who saves the universe but isn’t Flash Gordon. Actually, Buster Crabbe wasn’t the first actor to play Buck Rogers in-the-flesh, so to speak.
That honour goes to an unknown man who played Buck in a Virginia department store, instead of their regular Santa Claus. Santa was off conquering Martians at the time, I think it was an exchange program of sorts. It strikes me that Buck Rogers is not unlike a male fantasy come to life. Just think of it – Buck gets to take a nice five-hundred-year-long sleep-in. With my busy schedule, I’m ecstatic if I can get twenty minutes nap on the weekend. Then, when he wakes up, Buck is the smartest, most dynamic guy around. In reality he’d be treated like something that’s escaped from the zoo. And finally, everyone needs Buck to go on exciting missions, fight the bad guys, test exotic equipment and crash rocket ships – out of the half-dozen flights Buck makes, he only lands successfully once. It’s easy to see the bullet cars used in the movie are the same ones from Flash Gordon’s Trip To Mars (1938), and even the script is rather suspect.
Planet Outlaws
This film is actually a compilation of the Buck Rogers serials that ran originally in 1939. The cliffhanger endings and recap beginnings have been edited out to make it flow better -- with partial success. Some new footage was shot for the introduction and summary. At the opening, there are some newspaper headlines about jets chasing flying discs, and the obligatory checkered V2 launch, etc. to add a modern segue. After that, it's pure 1939.
Sci-fi movie technology had come a long way in the 14 years since Buck's debut. Audiences had grown accustomed to sleek and pointy rockets, flying saucers, strange aliens, etc. The Buck Rogers style world-of-the-future must have looked oddly quaint. (if not laughable) Just why Universal Pictures thought re-releasing Buck Rogers was a good idea is a bit of a mystery. Kids who were 8 or so back in 1939 would be young adults in '53. Perhaps Universal was banking on those young adults would buy tickets for a trip down memory lane.
Plot Synopsis
After a bit of modern ('53) footage about the wonders of modern progress and "flying disks," the old serial begins. Rogers and Buddy crashed in the arctic while on a transpolar flight. They were in suspended animation due to the cold and a vague gas. A patrol finds them in the year 2500 and revives them. In the world of 2500, a despot named Killer Kane is trying to take over the world. The forces of good are holed up in the "hidden city." Buck arranges a decoy maneuver to elude Kane's patrol ships. They fly to the planet Saturn in hopes of finding help. On Saturn, the Council sees Rogers and party as the rebels, and Kane as the rule of law. Rogers et al, escape Saturn, return to earth and seek to disrupt Kane's bamboozling of Prince Tallen, the Saturnian representative. Rogers sneaks into Kane's city, interrupts the treaty signing and convinces Tallen of Kane's evil by revealing Kane's "robot battalion" (slaves wearing mind-control helmets). Rogers and Tallen get to Saturn and the treaty is signed. Rogers escapes Kane's patrols via the Dissolvo Ray which rendered them invisible. Rogers and the war council plan for war. Rogers enlists the Saturnians to help. Meanwhile, Rogers sneaks into Kane's city and de-zombies Minister Krenco to lead an uprising of freed robot-slave-prisoners. Rogers storms Kane's palace and puts one of the robo-slave helmets on Kane. The End
The industrial vision of the future is delightful to watch. The heavily mechanical look of everything is so radically different from the sleek rockets and glowing acrylic audiences were growing accustomed to. The space ships look like they were built at locomotive factories or steamship yards. They spew roman-candle sparks and smoke and buzz as they fly. There are no computers, no radar or electronics. It's a fascinating snapshot of what pre-electronic-age people thought the future would be like.
When originally released in 1939, the Killer Kane character was a thinly disguised allusion to Hitler. In 1953, Kane was intended to represent a communist despot. It wasn't as tidy a fit. The narrator sums it up voicing a hope that scientists will develop the means for men to stand up to today's dictators and make the world safe for democracy. In the early 50s, there's little question of who they meant.
Simple Colors -- One endearing trait of Buck Rogers is the simplicity of the characterizations. The good guys do nothing but good. The bad guys are pure bad. The good guys are crack pilots and sharp shooters and tough as nails. The bad guys do nothing but bad, have trouble hitting a flying barn and are easily knocked out with one punch.
Industrial Baroque -- Somewhat like the baroque era's compulsion to decorate every square inch with swirls and filigree, Industrial Baroque sought to fill every space with heavy-duty hardware. The sets, and especially the rocket interiors are like flying boiler rooms. Valves, pipes, levers, dials, wheels, large flashing light bulbs. To look more "high tech" in the 30s meant cramming in more industrial hardware. Buck Rogers' ships show more affinity for Captain Nemo "steampunk" than the proto-space-age of the 50s.
Family Resemblance -- There is a noticeable similarity in the sets and costumes of Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers. Even serials of the early 50s, like Captain Video and the various Rocketman serials, look more like Flash and Buck than George Pal. The industrial baroque look and costuming are distinctive, making them almost a sub-genre of their own. In that regard, Buck has a timelessness.
Another take on the story and additional background info.
A round-the-world dirigible flight commanded by US Air Force officer Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe) encounters dangerously stormy weather above the Himalayas; said weather, along with disastrous panic on the part of Rogers’ crewmen, causes the aircraft to crash. The cowardly crewmen ditch the ship and meet quick ends, but Rogers and young Buddy Wade (Jackie Moran), son of the aircraft’s designer, survive the crash. The pair use a cylinder of “Nirvano” gas to place themselves into suspended animation until a rescue party can reach them, but an avalanche buries the ship and all searches prove fruitless; the dirigible and its two dormant inhabitants remain beneath rocks and snow for five hundred years.
Finally, in the year 2440, a spaceship unearths the wreck, and its pilots restore Buck and Buddy to consciousness. The holdovers from the 20th century soon learn that their rescuers are soldiers from the “Hidden City,” a pocket of resistance to the super-criminal who is ruling the 24th-century Earth–one “Killer” Kane (Anthony Warde). Rogers immediately pledges his support to Air Marshal Kragg (William Gould) and Scientist-General Dr. Huer (C. Montague Shaw), the leaders of the Hidden City exiles, and is soon en route to Saturn, hoping to convince that planet’s rulers to aid the Hidden City in freeing the Earth from Kane’s tyranny. To cement the Saturian alliance, Buck must battle Kane’s legions at every step of the way, with able assistance from Buddy and from Dr. Huer’s trusted aide Lieutenant Wilma Deering (Constance Moore).
Ever since its original release, Buck Rogers has stood in the shadow of Universal’s Flash Gordon serials; the studio encouraged such association by casting Flash Gordon star Buster Crabbe as a different sci-fi hero, obviously hoping that the chapterplay would capitalize on the goodwill generated by Flash Gordon and Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars. The serial did succeed in reminding audiences of the Flash outings–but it reminded them of how much they had liked those serials and forced inevitable comparisons that were not in Rogers’ favor. Universal’s plans for a second Buck Rogers serial were quickly scrapped when the first outing failed to please matinee audiences; the intended Buck sequel was then replaced on the studio’s production schedule by–what else?–a third Flash Gordon chapterplay. Even today, Buck is typically dismissed by fans as a pale echo of the great Gordon serials.
It’s easy to see why Buck Rogers came as a disappointment to audiences expecting an outing in the Flash Gordon tradition. Its production design, while futuristic, is less quirky and more uniform than that of the Gordons; there are no monsters and no weird semi-human races besides the rather uninteresting Zuggs; there are also no supporting characters as developed or as interesting as Dr. Zarkov, Ming, King Vultan, the Clay King, Princess Aura, Prince Barin, and other major figures in the Flash Gordon chapterplays. And yet, taken on its own terms, Buck Rogers is far from a failure; it does not approach the Flash Gordon trilogy in quality, but then few serials do.
Buck Rogers’ script, by former Mascot writers Norman Hall and Ray Trampe, is fast-moving and manages to avoid repetition for most of its length. The trip to Saturn, the attempts to convince Saturnian leader Prince Tallen (Philson Ahn) of the justice of the Hidden City’s cause, the subsequent rescue of Tallen from Kane’s city, the second journey to Saturn to cement the alliance, and the attempts of Kane’s henchman Laska (Henry Brandon) to sabotage it–all these incidents keep the narrative flowing very nicely for the serial’s first eight chapters. As in many of Trampe and Hall’s Mascot scripts, however, the writers seem to run out of plot before the serial’s end. While Chapters Nine and Ten remain interesting (with Buck being converted into a hypnotized robot, Buddy’s rescue of the hero, and an infiltration of the Hidden City by one of Kane’s men), the last two chapters have a definite wheel-spinning feel to them, throwing in a redundant third trip to Saturn and an unneeded flashback sequence.
The last-chapter climax is also something of a disappointment, with Kane being overthrown quickly and undramatically instead of being definitively crushed. Here, Trampe and Hall seem to have been leaving room for the sequel that never came and trying to avoid duplicating the dramatic but very final destruction of MIng which closed the first Flash Gordon serial (and which needed to be explained away in the second). The other weak spot of the scripting is Buck and Buddy’s rather calm reaction when they realize that their old world (and everyone in it) is dead–and their extraordinarily quick adjustment to their new one. One wouldn’t have wanted the writers to dwell on our heroes’ plight (which would be absolutely crushing in real life), but I do wish Trampe or Hall could have given Buck and Buddy a few emotional lines about their displacement before getting on to the main action; Hall in his scripts for other serials (Hawk of the Wilderness, Adventures of Red Ryder), showed himself capable of far more dramatic moments.
As already mentioned, the serial’s visuals are less varied than those of the Flash Gordon serials, but that’s not to say they aren’t impressive by serial standards. Pains seem to have been taken to avoid duplicating too much of Gordon’s “look;” the spaceship miniatures are completely different than the ships in the Gordon trilogy, while Kane’s stronghold–probably the best miniature in the serial–is not the quasi-Gothic palace of Ming but rather an ominous, futuristic-looking version of New York City, complete with towering skyscrapers. The Hidden City’s great rock gates are also nifty, and the massive Saturnian Forum (a life-size set, not a miniature) is very visually impressive. The barren Red Rock Canyon area works well as the Saturnian landscape, but I think it was a mistake to also use the Canyon as the area between the Hidden City and Kane’s capital; Saturn and Earth shouldn’t look so similar.
The only major prop or set reused from the Gordon serials are the “bullet cars” from Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars; they’re just as fun to watch in action here as in the earlier serial. Other incidental props and sets–Kane’s robot room, his mind-control helmets, the various televiewing devices, the anti-gravity belts, Dr. Huer’s invisibility ray, and the Star-Trek-like molecular transportation chamber–add further colorful touches to the serial., and are respectably represented by Universal’s always above-average array of sets and props. The Zuggs, the “primitive race” ruled by the Saturnians, are somewhat disappointing, however; while suitably grotesque-looking, they’re nowhere near as menacing or memorable–in appearance or demeanor–as their obvious inspiration, the Clay People in Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars.
The serial’s action scenes are brisk and energetic, suffering not at all from a general lack of fistfights–thanks to the swift-moving direction of Ford Beebe (a Mascot veteran like writers Trampe and Hall) and his co-director Saul Goodkind (usually an editor). The few hand-to-hand tussles–most of them on the rocky hills of Saturn–are executed routinely but skillfully by Dave Sharpe, Tom Steele, Eddie Parker, and other stuntmen; the best of the bunch is the fight between Buck and a Kane man in the control room of the Hidden City, although this is more exciting for the suspenseful situation (Buck trying to close the gates that the henchman has opened to Kane’s oncoming armada) than for any particular flair in the staging.
Most of the action sequences consist of protracted chases and pursuits (both on foot and in rocketships), with occasional quick combats thrown in. Many of these lengthy chases are very exciting–particularly the long incursion into Kane’s city that occupies most of Chapters Three and Four, a great combination of action and suspense. Buddy’s later stealthy visit into Kane’s fortress to rescue Buck from the robot room, and the following escape, is also good, as are Buck’s skillful and repeated elusions of the rebellious Zuggs in Chapter Eight and the bullet car getaway in Chapter Six.
The cliffhanger endings are generally well-staged, with proper build-ups, but too many of them involve spaceship crashes that our heroes rather implausibly live through. The impressive collapsing forum at the end of Chapter Eleven and the bullet car crash at the end of Chapter Six provide nice variety amid the spaceship wrecks, but (alas) are also resolved by mere survival. Still, this is preferable to the blatantly cheating resolution of what is otherwise one the best chapter endings–Killer Kane’s pursuit of Buddy in a darkened council chamber and his apparently lethal zapping of the young hero. At least the resolution features a good stunt bit by Dave Sharpe.
The leading performances in Buck Rogers are all excellent (although most other critics would make a single exception; see below). Buster Crabbe, as always, makes a perfect serial hero–both genially cheerful and grimly serious, unassumingly polite and aggressively tough. As in the Flash Gordon trilogy, his down-to-earth attitude also helps to make the wild sci-fi happenings seem perfectly normal.
Jackie Moran (oddly “reduced” to serial acting only a year after playing Huck Finn in David O. Selznick’s big-budget classic Adventures of Tom Sawyer) does a fine job as Buddy Wade, handling his character’s frequent “golly, gee-whiz” lines in a low-key fashion that keeps Buddy from coming off as too naïve; his chipper but calm demeanor complements Crabbe’s well, and he has no problems carrying an entire chapter and part of another on his own.
Constance Moore, despite being saddled with perhaps the most unflattering costume ever worn by a serial leading lady (basically coveralls and a bathing cap), manages to come off as charming. Her Wilma Deering is self-possessed and capable-seeming but never too coldly efficient; she remains warmly likable even when piloting spaceships or explaining technology to Crabbe.
Henry Brandon is very good as Killer Kane’s chief henchman Captain Laska–suave and sly when acting as Kane’s ambassador to Saturn, haughtily arrogant when threatening people, and nervously jittery in the presence of his overbearing leader. Hard-bitten tough guys Wheeler Oakman and Reed Howes, along with the slicker Carleton Young , form Brandon’s backup squad.
As Killer Kane himself, perennial henchman actor Anthony Warde has been almost universally panned by critics as “miscast.” I have to dissent strongly, however; Warde does a fine job in the part and plays Kane with a memorable combination of viciousness and uncontrollable anger. The character is not a diabolical schemer like Ming, but rather a super-gangster who’s blasted and bullied his way to the top–and Warde’s bad-tempered, aggressive, and thuggish screen personality fits the part perfectly. He veers between intimidating ranting and harshly sinister sarcasm–as when he describes himself as a “kindly ruler” just after wrathfully sending a formerly trusted councilor to the robot room–but is quite menacing in both aspects.
Philson Ahn, brother of frequent serial and feature actor Phillip Ahn, does a good job as Prince Tallen of Saturn; he possesses his sibling’s deep and distinctive voice, which serves him well as a planetary dignitary. His manner also has a slightly tougher edge to it than his refined brother’s, which helps to keep the viewer in uncertainty in the earlier chapters as to whether Tallen will turn out to be friend or foe. Guy Usher plays Aldar, the head of Saturn’s ”Council of the Wise,” and does his best to seem suitably imposing and dignified, despite the almost comical way in which the “Wise” continually change their opinions–backing Kane, opposing him, giving into his demands, defying him, etc. Cyril Delevanti is enjoyable as a grumpy subordinate member of the Council.*
C. Montague Shaw has limited screen time, but is very good as Dr. Huer, balancing statesmanlike dignity with shrewdness and a touch of enjoyable scientific eccentricity (the last is particularly noticeable during his demonstration of his invisibility gas in Chapter Five). Energetic Jack Mulhall is typically affable and enthusiastic as Captain Rankin of the Hidden City, while Kenne Duncan has a rare good guy role as Mulhall’s fellow-officer Lieutenant Lacy. Perennial screen “underworld rat” John Harmon also plays against type as a Hidden City soldier, as does Stanley Price as a Hidden City pilot rescued from existence as a human robot. The dignified but stolid William Gould is good enough as Air Marshal Kragg, but I would have preferred a more dynamic actor in the role–Kragg is, after all, the top military leader of Kane’s enemies. Mulhall could have handled it well, as could Wade Boteler–who does an excellent job as the grim and concerned Professor Morgan in the first chapter, intensely instructing Buddy and Buck in the use of the Nirvano gas.
Lane Chandler also appears in the first chapter, as a military officer who demonstrates the Nirvano gas to a reporter played by another old pro, Kenneth Harlan. An unusually subdued Theodore Lorch is one of Kane’s councilors, while Karl Hackett has a good part as another councilor who gets into an argument with Kane that leads to Hackett’s being converted into a human robot (his terrified pleas as he’s dragged out of the council chamber are quite chilling). Al Bridge has some memorably sinister lines (“when this helmet is in place, you’ll never think or speak again”) in his periodic scenes as the slave-master of Kane’s human robots.
Unusually for Universal, several bit roles are filled by stuntmen; Eddie Parker and Tom Steele pop in as various soldiers and officers, but aren’t as noticeable as Dave Sharpe, who’s given multiple speaking roles as a Kane soldier, a Hidden City soldier, a Saturnian officer, and a Saturnian soldier. His ubiquity can get a little distracting at times, particularly since some of his appearances follow right on the previous one’s heels; he also seems to have a bit of trouble with the formal-sounding Saturnian dialogue, coming off as much more stiff and affected than in his co-starring turn in Daredevils of the Red Circle.
The serial’s music score, like most other Universals of the period, is an eclectic but usually effective array of stock music, some of it cues from the Flash Gordon serials but the majority of it culled from Universal’s horror features, including (most notably) Franz Waxman’s score for Bride of Frankenstein, which furnishes some memorable opening-titles music.
All in all, though Buck Rogers has its share of flaws, it also has more than enough virtues (the acting, the fast pace, the interesting sci-fi trappings) to make it a good chapterplay. Despite its similar themes, it shouldn’t be pitted against the Flash Gordon trilogy–a match it’s bound to lose–but rather judged against the field of competition in general. When judged in this fashion, it’s just as entertaining–and often more entertaining–than many serials with less shabby reputations.
*One has to wonder, though, why some Saturnians are Orientals like Ahn and others Occidentals like Usher and Delevanti; my own theory is that men from various countries emigrated from Earth to Saturn sometime before the bulk of the serial took place; this would explain the racial assortment and also explain why the Hidden City chooses Saturn in particular as an ally (as usual, I’m probably putting too much thought into this).
This is one of Rockets favorite spots to lay and take a snooze. The air conditioning blows directly on him here!! lol...have a nice day everyone!!! :)
Now this is the first time I've seen Rocket get happy when we run into Don and his dog Atlas!!! Rocket is normally aggressive when we run into people with dogs. We have to keep him leashed till he calms down. But this time even Atlas was happy to see him! LOL
Film clip of details from a new portrait tribute to Pop icon, Elton John by expressionist artist Stephen B. Whatley .
Sir Elton John's biographical film, Rocketman is now playing in the USA and worldwide.
The painting was inspired by the singer's image of the 1970s and songs across the decades; with a particular inspiration coming from the song Philadelphia Freedom - lyrics of which inspired the title.
You can see the painting in the previous post via this link:
www.flickr.com/photos/stephenbwhatley/40924437353/in/phot...
Stephen B Whatley - whose portrait of Barack Obama was published in TIME - is noted for his vibrant contemporary paintings, for Buckingham Palace, the BBC and the Tower of London (where there is a permanent walkway of his series of 30 paintings at Tower Hill). His work is in private collections worldwide and other public collections including the London Transport Museum and Westminster Cathedral.
Elton John : Shine The Light. 2019 by Stephen B. Whatley
Oil on canvas, 40 x 30in/102 x 76cm
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Tenuous Link: red tomato > red moon
... a lovlely back and very much to see for technicians like me. I never had the chance before to see that sexy back in such a close way ...
Panavia PA-200Tornado
Airpower 09 Zeltweg / Styria / Austria
Our village took both its art cars out to the trash fence to watch the sun rise while our favorite resident DJs mucisified it all. In a stroke of premeditated genius, Alxndr here had packed all the equipment and fixins to make several servings of the finest miso soup. Hotsaltyyum!
Taken at Burning Man 2010: Metropolis. Please do not publish or repost without permission.
The famous
and infamous corner of
Hollywood & Vine. These four
homeless kids were lined
up and handcuffed, their
ragged bags searched,
and then eventually
sent on their way. I stood
as witness and photographer-
wishing cops would spend their
time doing more important
work than hassling the
homeless
here on the boulevard of
stars.
check it out everyone, my good bud T$ is the first josh? diehard fan!
a few months back i drew him a few space themed josh? designs, and he recently got the rocketman inked!
so be sure to add him as a friend and ask to do some trading with the guy!
Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un come prepared for their historic meeting in Singapore. www.picfair.com/pics/06900484-2-great-minds-prepare-to-meet
14-Jan-2021: 1. Death to 2020
Fave! Mockumentary.
Tennyson Foss, historian: "Now, of course, all this division, all this intractable conflict, was tearing humankind asunder at the worst possible time. Because, of course, at the very moment that we were preoccupied with fighting each other, the corona virus was steadily bearing down upon us. Now, those who've closely studied the history books, such as myself, knew that this was strongly reminiscent of the time the White Walkers led their army of the dead towards the warring factions of Westeros."
Interviewer: "So you mean like in 'Game of thrones'?"
Foss: "No, no. I am discussing history."
Interviewer: "I'm pretty sure that was 'Game of thrones'."
Foss: "Well, I'm pretty sure that I am the historian here."
Foss: "…"
Foss: "Cut to a map or something."
Dr Maggie Gravel, behavioural therapist: "Human beings are social animals, so shutting down social interactions goes against our instinct. I mean, for most folks, not me. I fucking hate people. My god, it was bliss!"
Kathy Flowers, soccer mom: "I know criminal behaviour when I see it. Whether it's someone breaking a window or a Black man sitting in a car."
Interviewer: "Wasn't there a video of you haranguing a Black man sitting in a car that went viral this year?"
Flowers: "…"
Man in video clip: "And I'm telling you this is my car!"
Flowers in video clip: "Well, then I'm sure you'll prove that with some ID! Yeah."
Flowers: "First of all, I… I wasn't haranguing. I was politely inquiring. For less than an hour."
Interviewer: "So that was the only time you did something like that this year?"
Flowers: "Um… There was an incident at a pool."
Woman in video clip: "Give it back!"
Flowers in video clip: "Do you have a receipt for this towel? I just need to see a receipt!"
Flowers: "Uh, there was an incident up in the hills."
Man in video clip: "I'm painting a water colour!"
Flowers in video clip: "OK, the way that you're wielding that paintbrush is very unsettling to me."
Flowers: "And at the hospital."
Flowers in video clip: "Sweetie, are you absolutely sure that this is your dialysis machine?"
Girl in video clip: "Mommy, the crazy lady's back again!"
Flowers in video clip: "I was just asking. I'm allowed to ask."
Flowers (voice breaking): "I don't know why people are so quick to judge."
Flowers: "…"
Flowers: *points to boom operator, a black man*
Flowers (mouthing): "Is he with you?"
Interviewer: "That's Mike. He's been here all day."
21-Feb-2021: 2. David Attenborough: A life on our planet
Fave! Docu. BRB CRYING
David Attenborough: "A marked change in atmospheric carbon has always been incompatible with a stable Earth. It was a feature of all five mass extinctions. In previous events, it had taken volcanic activity up to one million years to dredge up enough carbon from within the Earth to trigger a catastrophe. By burning millions of years' worth of living organisms all at once as coal and oil, we have managed to do so in less than 200."
"Rewilding the world is simpler than you might think. And the changes we have to make will only benefit ourselves and the generations that follow. A century from now, our planet could be a wild place again. And I'm going to tell you how. Every other species on Earth reaches a maximum population after a time – the number that can be sustained on the natural resources available. With nothing to restrict us, our population has been growing dramatically throughout my lifetime. On current projections, there will be 11 billion people on Earth by 2100. But it's possible to slow, even to stop population growth well before it reaches that point. Japan's standard of living climbed rapidly in the latter half of the 20th century. As healthcare and education improved, people's expectations and opportunities grew, and the birth rate fell. In 1950, a Japanese family was likely to have three or more children. By 1975, the average was two. The result is that the population has now stabilized and has hardly changed since the millennium. There are signs that this has started to happen across the globe. As nations develop everywhere, people choose to have fewer children. The number of children being born worldwide every year is about to level off. A key reason the population is still growing is because many of us are living longer. At some point in the future, the human population will peak for the very first time. The sooner it happens, the easier it makes everything else we have to do. By working hard to raise people out of poverty, giving all access to healthcare, and enabling girls in particular to stay in school as long as possible, we can make it peak sooner and at a lower level. Why wouldn't we want to do these things? Giving people a greater opportunity of life is what we would want to do anyway. The trick is to raise the standard of living around the world without increasing our impact on that world. That may sound impossible, but there are ways in which we can do this."
28-Feb-2021: 3. Crush proof
1-Mar-2021: 4. Mank
2-Mar-2021: 5. The social dilemma
Fave! Docu about social media addiction and stuff. If you need to lock yourself out of the Internet or just specific sites (and a time-locked cookie jar isn't strong enough for you), I strongly recommend the app Freedom. If time = money, Freedom will pay its own way pretty quickly… At least it did in my case. :p Willpower depletion is a thing.
In other news, the docu mentioned the idea of taxing data collection. I approve of this. :q
3-Mar-2021: 6. The game changers
Fave! Docu about a bunch of vegan athletes who get insane results. Produced by Arnold, Jackie Chan, and some other people. :)
6-Mar-2021: 7. A plastic ocean
Docu. I expected to fave it, of course, but I didn't. For reasons. -_- Anyway, click here for a great video about cute baby birds. Stop making humans.
16-Mar-2021: 8. Becoming
Fave! Docu.
18-Mar-2021: 9. Ricky Gervais: Humanity
Stand-up show.
30-Apr-2021: 10. Eat pray love
15-May-2021: 11. The truth about alcohol
Docu. (I do not partake.)
20-May-2021: 12. Eurotrip
In honour of the 10th anniversary of my first Interrail trip...
9-Jun-2021: 13. The Santa incident
Yeah, that happened. I ordered the DVD in the final week of 2020 and it arrived like 4 months later and… -_-
10-Jun-2021: 14. The prom
Fave! And the soundtrack too! x)
11-Jun-2021: 15. The intouchables
12-2021: 16. Once upon a time in Hollywood
14-Jun-2021: 17. Rocketman
Fave! The best non-documentary film I saw this year. I became especially obsessed with the "Saturday night’s alright" scene and watched it OVER 9 BAZILLION TIMES. o_O AAAAAAAAAAAAAA. And several other songs also made me go "Hmm, this sounds pretty nice. I should probably check out more of his music." I'd had a handful of Elton songs in my collection for decades (I first heard him on "The lion king" soundtrack), but now I really started to spend time with ALL THE ALBUMS. (Er, I'm almost done.) Normally, the high point of my week is… the Flickr upload… :B But the Flickr habit had kind of been broken over the summer, for reasons. So the new high point of each week was to sit the fuck down with a new (to me…) Elton album and a can o' energy drink and no distractions. Ahhh. And I've got THREE ELTON SHOWS booked for 2022 and 2023! But I half expect them to get postponed or cancelled. :'( I COULD have started listening to him properly in 1995 or some shit. PS. Fave Elton song: "Live like horses". :'D Never heard it before 2021. D:
15-Jun-2021: 18. Bo Burnham: Inside
Comedy special. Funny and catchy songs. xD I put several of them on my iPod, such as "How the world works" and "Sexting". :B
19-Jun-2021: 19. Django unchained
25-Jun-2021: 20. The mustang
27-Jun-2021: 21. Steve Jobs
21-Jul-2021: 22. Kingsman: The secret service
Fave!
22-Jul-2021: 23. Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Heehee. :B
23-Jul-2021: 24. Chernobyl 1986
There’s a scary man in this movie. Oh, and a nuclear meltdown.
31-Jul-2021: 25. Harriet
11-Sep-2021: 26. Assassin's creed
18-Sep-2021: 27. Mammal
25-Sep-2021: 28. The big short
2-Oct-2021: 29. Deepwater Horizon
9-Oct-2021: 30. Late night
Employee Gabe: "I'm in a single-income household. And Jen and I just had our second baby, Taylor. *shows photo* Adorable, huh?"
Boss Katherine: "She takes after you."
Gabe: "Yeah. Thanks. So, there's just a lot of expenses at home right now, and I think it's time for a raise."
Katherine: "I see. This is actually very exciting to me."
Gabe: "Really? Great."
Katherine: "Because what you're describing is the most clear-cut example of the classic sexist argument for the advancement of men in the workplace. You're asking for a raise not because of any work-related contribution you've made, but simply because you have a family. And that's why, in the 1950s, family men were promoted over the women they worked with. I've never encountered it, actually, in such a clean, teachable way."
Gabe: "I don't think that's at all what's happening."
Katherine: "I can't give you a raise, Gabe. It's like giving a raise to a drug addict."
Gabe: "What?"
Katherine: "Well, your situations are virtually identical. A drug addict makes certain decisions outside of work for their sense of self and comfort, and then the addiction demands more time, more energy, more money, just like a child."
Gabe: "My child's like a drug problem?"
Katherine: "Exactly. :D You want special treatment. I'm sure you can see how unfair that would be to a single man, or woman."
Gabe: "There are no women on this staff."
Other employee: "Gabe…"
Gabe: "And the reason there aren't any women is because you hate women. So you can sit there spouting all this pseudo-feminist bullshit, but we all know what's going on here."
Katherine: "We need to hire a woman. [To Gabe] You're fired, obviously."
16-Oct-2021: 31. Attack of the Hollywood clichés!
Fave! Docu.
23-Oct-2021: 32. Cast away
My biology studies included a course in outdoor pedagogy, during which we had to choose a practical project. My classmate took a bunch of kindergarteners into the woods for a nice day of grilling hot dogs over a campfire and shit like that. A kid had reportedly happened to drop their hot dog in the fire, which caused them to exclaim…
"I HATE NATURE!"
This became a bit of a catchphrase in our class whenever something went slightly or terribly wrong in the great outdoors.
So I heard "I HATE NATURE!" in my head kind of frequently while watching "Cast away". :B
13-Nov-2021: 33. No time to die
*nudge* Check out my photos of A CERTAIN BRIDGE! :B I found out during the roadtrip that the new Bond movie would feature the Atlantic Ocean Road… IIRC, it was filmed only a few weeks before my visit! :D (But don't quote me on that.)
14-Nov-2021: 34. Eurovision Song Contest: The story of Fire Saga
Fave! It… it made me want to start watching the actual Eurovision Song Contest. o_O THE PEOPLE FROM MY KEWL NINE INCH NAILS CIRCLE MUST NEVER FIND OUT
27-Nov-2021: 35. Last Christmas
Kate, re Brexit: "They're not gonna send you back. You live here. This is your home."
Mum: "I know how it start. They point a finger. They say, 'Those people, they are reason your life is bad.' And people believe. They believe."
Kate: "I know. I know."
Mum: *sob*
Mum: "I blame the Poles."
Kate: "OK…"
Kate: -_-
If you liked this movie, you may also enjoy "The sixth sense", "Sweet November", and "Truly, madly, deeply". Lastly, thanks to Netflix for spoiling the movie with a poorly chosen still that is shown while the movie loads. YEAH! At least I didn't spot the spoilage right from the start. Nor did I suspect that the very title is kind of spoily. Ahem.
11-Dec-2021: 36. En underbar jävla jul (a.k.a. Holy mess)
24-Dec-2021: 37. The road to El Dorado
25-Dec-2021: 38. Bird box
Music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross! Mad breath-holding skillz and body-heat-preservation skillz by the little birdies in the box. o_O
Dec-2021: 39. The square (2013)
Docu.
31-Dec-2021: 40. Don't look up
Fave! I'm happy it seems to be so popular. :B Netflix dropped the trailer on me one day. I only read the synopsis and put the movie on my to-see list immediately. :p
-------------------------------------
Vegan FAQ! :)
The Web Site the Meat Industry Doesn't Want You to See.
Please watch Earthlings.
No, this is not Elton John, it is my beloved Junior aka Mr.W testing his explosive leg power at Anse Marcel on St.Martin! : )
😄This goofy dog of mine just loves having his picture taken. Every time I turn around when I'm outside, there he sits looking so proud!! LOL...I just love my fur babies!
Been working on revising the frames of Donovan's Demolishers and the "Rocketman" underwent some big changes. While I was fairly happy with the original build, I wanted to play around with the rocket designs to make them more than just warheads. A surprisingly simple addition really improved that look. The new beefier rockets and some tactical changes with the company's other units inspired me to switch this frame to be use the Armored Spotter archetype (1B/2Y/2W systems) loaded with 3 SSRs; the improvised armor plating and new sensor package grew out of a desire to make those systems distinct.
Built for Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack.
Original Landscript frame design by mittenninja.
Lobby Card (11" X 14")
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, and William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.
Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, and William Schallert. Directed by Herbert L. Strock.
When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed -- in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry -- Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation -- properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there -- until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" -- and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control.
"...and then without warning, the machine became a frankenstein of steel," says the sensationalist poster text. This is the third story in Ivan Tors' OSI trilogy. His first "Office of Scientific Investigation" story was Magnetic Monster in early 1953. The second was Riders to the Stars in early '54. With Gog the loose trilogy is complete. Unlike the Star Wars trilogy in which the stories build upon each other, each of the three OSI stories are separate tales which have nothing to do with each other. The common thread is the idea of there being a sort of Science FBI agency whose job it is, is to check out the scientifically strange. In that regard, Tors' OSI is a bit like a foreshadowing of the X-Files TV series, but without any of the New Age paranormal focus.
In keeping with the previous two stories, Gog is more of a detective murder mystery movie. Tors was a huge fan of "hard" science, not fanciful fiction fluff, so Gog, like the other two movies, is chock full of reveling in sciencey stuff in an almost geeky way. This reverence for real science keeps things from getting out on shaky limb, as many sci-fi films to. The events are much more plausible, less fantastic.
Synopsis
At a secret underground research facility, far out in the desert, scientists working on preparations for a manned space mission, are getting murdered mysteriously. Two agents from the OSI are dispatched to solve the mystery and keep the super secret space station program on track. The scientists are killed in various ways, mostly through equipment malfunctions. The facility director and the agents suspect sabotage. Small transmitter/receiver boxes are found within equipment in different parts of the facility. They suggest that someone on the outside is transmitting in the "malfunctions" in order to kill off the program's scientists. Occasional alarms indicate some flying high intruder, but nothing is clearly found. One of the base's two robots, named Gog, kills another technician while it's mate, Magog, tries to set up an overload within the base's atomic pile. The OSI agents stop Magog with a flame thrower. Meanwhile, interceptor jets scramble and find the highflying spy jet and destroy it with missiles. Once the trouble is past, the Director announces that they will be launching their prototype space station the next day, despite the sabotage attempts to stop it. The End.
The time spent reveling in techno-geekery has a certain Popular Science charm to it. There's an evident gee-whiz air about space and defense sciences which is fun to see. People were fascinated with things rockety and atomic. For various fun bits, see the Notes section.
Gog oozes Cold War from every frame. First is the base's underground location to make them safe from A-bombs. Next is the mysterious killer trying to stop the space station program. The high-flying mystery plane is "not one of ours." (that leaves: Them, and we all knew who they were.) The space station is to be powered by a solar mirror. Even that benign mirror has sinister possibilities. While demonstrating the mirror, the scientists use it to burn a model of a city. "This could happen...if we're not the first to reach space," says the Director. Space is the next "high ground" to be contested. At the end of the movie, when discussing the launch (despite the sabotage attempt) of the prototype space station, the Director says, "Through it's eye, we'll be able to see everything that goes on upon this tired old earth." The Defense Secretary says, "Nothing will take us by surprise again." An obvious reference to Pearl Harbor.
B-films often re-used props and sets from prior films in order to save on their budgets. Gog, even though shot in Eastman Color, was no exception. Two old prop friends show up in Gog. One is our venerable old friend, the space suits from Destination Moon ('50). Look for the centrifuge scene. The research assistants are dressed in them, and as an added bonus, they wear the all-acrylic fish bowl helmets used in Abbot and Costello Go to Mars ('53). Our second old friend is scene in the radar / security room, (the one with the annoying tuning fork device). Check out the monitor wall. It's been gussied up a bit, but it is the spaceship control panel wall from Catwomen of the Moon and Project Moon Base -- complete with the empty 16mm film reels on the right side. It's fun to see old friends.
B-films often include stock footage of military units, tanks, jets, battleships, etc. to fill things out. Gog is no different, and even commits the common continuity error of showing one type of plane taking off, but a different kind in the air.
What amounts to a small treat amid the usual stock footage of jets, some shots of a rather obscure bit of USAF hardware -- the F-94C Starfire with its straight wings and huge wing tanks. In 1954, the Starfire was one of America's coolest combat jets, yet we hear little about it. The swept-wing F-86 Sabers (which we see taxiing and taking off) were the agile fighter which gained fame over Korea. They're common stock footage stars. The F-94, with its onboard radar (in the nose cone) was deemed too advanced to risk falling into enemy hands. So, it didn't see much action , and therefore little fame. The heavier, yet powerful F-94C (one of the first US jets to have an afterburner) was 1954 America's hottest Interceptor -- designed to stop high flying Soviet bombers. It's blatant cameo appearance in Gog, intercepting the high-flying mystery plane, was a fun little bit of patriotic showing off.
The very name of the movie, Gog, is charged with meaning to American audiences of the mid 50s, though virtually lost on viewers of the 21st century. The names of the two robots, Gog and Magog, come from the Bible. More specifically, from the prophecies of Ezekiel (Chapter 38) and the Book of Revelation (chapter 20). While just who they are (nations? kings?) has been debated for centuries, their role as tools of Satan in the battle of Armageddon is clear. Mainstream American patriotic Christendom had settled on the idea that the Soviet Union was the prophesied "nations from the north" who would join Satan to oppose God. This gives the title of the movie a special Cold War significance. It also puts an interesting spin on the Dr. Zeitman character for having named the two robots in the first place. Since they were tools of the mega-computer NOVAC, what was he saying about NOVAC?
It is interesting that the base's radar could not detect the mystery plane (which was beaming in the 'kill' instructions to NOVAC) because it was made of "fiberglass" which rendered it invisible to radar. Now, fiberglass itself isn't sturdy enough for high-speed jets, and it would take until the 1990s before composite materials advanced to make the dream of a stealth aircraft a reality. Nonetheless, the dream (or nightmare) of stealth aircraft was on-screen in 1954 in Gog.
The super computer, NOVAC, controlled everything on the base. Even though the machines were not really killing scientists on their own, but following human orders from the mystery plane, there was the on-screen depiction of machines having a murderous mind of their own. (all pre-Steven King) In the techno starry-eyed 50s, it was fairly uncommon for the technology itself to be turning on its masters. This idea would gain traction later in the 50s, and especially in the 60s, but in '54, it was unusual.
A cautionary subtext to Gog is the danger of trusting in a supercomputer to manage defenses and a whole base. NOVAC doesn't go bad on its own, as the computer will in The Invisible Boy, Hal in 2001 or Colossus in The Forbin Project. In this movie, it was the nefarious "others" who hacked into NOVAC to make it do the killing, but this just demonstrates the danger. People were getting a little nervous about letting machines take over too much responsibility. We were starting to distrust our creations.
Until Gog, robots were fairly humanoid.
They had two legs, two arms, a torso and a head. Audiences had seen the mechanical Maria in Metropolis ('27), the fedora-wearing metal men in Gene Autrey's Phantom Empire serial ('35). The water-heater-like Republic robot appeared in several rocketman serials. There was the gleaming giant Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) and the cute left over fedora-dudes in Captain Video ('51). The metal giant in Devil Girl from Mars ('54) was also humaniod, in a chunky way. Gog and Magog were a departure from the stereotype. They were noticeably in-human, which was part of the mood.
Bottom line? Gog seems a bit bland, as far as sci-fi tends to go, but it has a lot in it for fans of 50s sci-fi.
The legendary Elton John! We found this in a gallery at the Detroit Historical Museum on our last great adventure.
Jeff -- here dressed as "Elton Jeff" -- has been the emcee for the Doo Dah Queen Tryouts for two years. The guy who used to dress up as Doctor Demento hung up his top hat after Snotty Scottie died three years ago. So the positions of emcee and referee were up for grabs. (For what it's worth, 2013 Queen Susann has taken on the referee duties after Sue hung up her striped shirt.) Last year, Jeff wore a pink wig and a glittery cap. He also wore white, which messed up my auto-exposure while shooting video. This year was no different; in fact, it was worse, since he wore all white, including those gaudy feathers. Added to the mix are the track lights above the stage that were turned on this year. They didn't quite give off a 3200 degree kelvin color temperature (I think they were warmer), but it didn't matter, as I had my camera's white balance set for fluorescent lighting, and that only added a bit of magenta into the lights.
This image is the result of my auto-exposure kicking down to compensate for the bright white outfit, and a little tweaking on Photoshop to bring out more details and not let the white blow out.
This is a frame capture from HD video using the Canon EOS Rebel T6 camera, with the Canon 18-55mm zoom lens.
Mediocre print scan of self portrait taken during my prolific days. Set the timer and had about 20 seconds to climb up a little step ladder and climb into the back of the torso before the timer went off. Must have done this two hundred times the night I took this picture. Red filter strobes with a white spot on the background.