B5!! 66!! 1999!! POPEYE!! LOST!! ANGEL!! MY SO-CALLED LIFE!! Herc's Season-Box DVD Vault!! -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

Published on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 2:01am

B5!! 66!! 1999!! POPEYE!! LOST!! ANGEL!! MY SO-CALLED LIFE!! Herc's Season-Box DVD Vault!!

I am – Hercules!!

Thanks to a deal struck between Hearst’s King Features Syndicate (which owns Popeye) and Time Warner (which owns the old Popeye shorts) Popeye 1933-1938 Vol. 1 contains all 60 Fleisher Bros. Popeye animated shorts (including the Betty Boop short “Popeye the Sailor” that served as a pilot of sorts) released to cinemas between July 14, 1933 and April 28, 1938:

1933
Popeye the Sailor (Betty Boop cartoon)- July 14
I Yam What I Yam - September 29
Blow Me Down! - October 27
I Eats My Spinach - November 17
Season's Greetinks - December 17
Wild Elephinks - December 29

1934
Sock-A-Bye Baby - January 19
Let's You and Him Fight - February 16
The Man on the Flying Trapeze - March 16
Can You Take It - April 27
Shoein' Hosses - June 1
Strong to the Finich - June 29
Shiver Me Timbers - July 27
Axe Me Another - August 30
A Dream Walking - September 26
The Two-Alarm Fire - October 26
The Dance Contest - November 23
We Aim to Please - December 28

1935
Beware of Barnacle Bill - January 25
Be Kind to Animals - February 22
Pleased To Meet Cha! - March 22
The Hyp-Nut-Tist - April 26
Choose Your Weppins - May 31
For Better or Worser - June 28
Dizzy Divers - July 26
You Gotta Be a Football Hero - August 30
King of the Mardi Gras - September 27
Adventures of Popeye - October 25
The Spinach Overture - December 7

1936
Vim, Vigor and Vitaliky - January 3
A Clean Shaven Man - February 7
Brotherly Love - March 6
I-Ski Love-Ski You-Ski - April 3
Bridge Ahoy - May 1
What, No Spinach? - May 7
I Wanna Be a Lifeguard - June 26
Let's Get Movin' - July 24
Never Kick a Woman - August 28
Little Swee'pea - September 25
Hold the Wire - October 23
The Spinach Roadster - November 26
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor - November 27 (color)
I'm In the Army Now - December 25

1937
The Paneless Window Washer - January 22
Organ Grinder's Swing - February 19
My Artistical Temperature - March 19
Hospitaliky - April 16
The Twister Pitcher - May 21
Morning, Noon and Nightclub - June 18
Lost and Foundry - July 16
I Never Changes My Altitude - August 20
I Like Babies And Infinks - September 18
The Football Toucher Downer - October 15
Protect the Weakerest - November 19
Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves - November 26 (color)
Fowl Play - December 17

1938
Let's Celebrake - January 21
Learn Polikness - February 18
The House Builder Upper - March 18
Big Chief Ugh-Amugh-Ugh - April 25

These are the earliest of all Popeye cartoons, made before his big-screen creators were told to tone down the sailor man’s violensk. The Fleishers (who also masterminded Betty Boop, Koko the Clown and the first Superman cartoons) directed 108 Popeye shorts between 1933 and 1942. Paramount bought the Fleisher studios and made 125 Fleisher-free Popeye theatrical shorts between 1942 and 1957. Warner Bros. plans to release them all on DVD. Volume two is due in November.

Documentaries on the extra-loaded first volume include:

* “I Yam What I Yam,” (43:24) traces Popeye’s origins from a bit player in a decade-old comic strip called “Thimble Theatre” through hundreds of cartoons and a Robert Altman movie. See how the sailor mirrored America, as he moved from the tenements of the Depression to the U.S. Navy during World War II to the postwar suburbs. Learn that the original contract between Paramount King Features called for all Popeye prints and negatives to be destroyed after 10 years. Learn that a whopping 220 new made-for-TV Popeye shorts -- which actually adhered more closely to the Thimble Theatre source material -- were produced in two years between 1960 and 1962. Learn that Mae Questal, who provided the voice of Betty Boop, voiced also Olive Oyl (and even voiced Popeye at one point!). Learn that Bluto became “Brutus” in King Features’ made-for-TV cartoons because the syndicator somehow believed Paramount owned the rights to the Bluto character introduced in the strip. Learn that screenwriter Jules Feiffer was determined to base the “Popeye” movie on E. Segar’s Thimble Theatre cartoon strips (rather than the shorts), which Pfieffer considered the comic equal of the Marx Bros. and W.C. Fields.

* “Forging the Frame: The Roots of Animation 1900-1920” (31:02). Terry Gilliam, Bill Plympton, Ray Harryhausen, Leonard Maltin and others discuss embryonic ventures into film animation, including the earliest work of Windsor McKay, J.R. Bray and the Fleisher Bros.

* “Mining the Strip: Elzie Segar and Thimble Theatre” (8:40). Learn the sad fate of Harold Hamgravy, Olive’s boyfriend for a decade before Popeye joined the strip. Learn that Popeye originally got his superstrength not from Spinach but from rubbing a magic whiffle hen. Learn that Peanuts creator Charles Schulz and Spirit creator Will Eisner were both huge Segar fans.

* “Me Fickle Goyle, Olive Oyl” (4;21). Learn that no romantic sparks flew from either party when Popeye first met his beanpole love in the strip.

* “Wimpy the Moocher: Ode To The Burgermeister” (4:31) Paul Dooley, who played Wimpy in the movie, and others discuss the opportunistic moocher. We learn the Fleishers were often not true the comic-strip character and that a British hamburger chain was named for him.

“ “Sailor’s Hornpipes: The Voices of Popeye” (9:30) We learn how artist/story man Jack Mercer took over Popeye’s voice after the voice’s creator, a stage and recording artist named Bill Costello, proved difficult. It was Mercer, I must say, who perfected the comic mumblings so key to Popeye’s onscreen popularity. His employers agreed, apparently, as Mercer remained the voice of Popeye until his death in 1984.

* “Blow Me Down! The Music of Popeye” (10:03) The Fleischer Bros. were swing and jazz fiends! Popeye’s theme, which is also the Spinach can’s theme, is enduring!

* “Popeye in Living Color: A Look At The Color Two-Reelers” (5:47) The three full-color double-sized 20-minute-long Popeye color shorts helped pave the way for animated features, we’re told. All were huge successes, sometimes billed above the feature, according to Leonard Maltin.

* “Me Lil’ Swee’pea: Whose Kid Is He Anyway?” (3:52) Swee’pea was left on Popeye’s doorstep in the comic strip, but in the cartoons he was in the care of Olive Oyl. This led to all kinds of confusion. Wondered many: “Where did the unmarried Olive get this baby?”

* “Et Tu. Bluto? Cartoondom’s Heaviest Heavy” (4:41) Learn that Bluto was not a big deal in the comic strip, but became huge in the shorts due to a big fight he had with Popeye in 1932 when Paramount bought the movie rights.

Audio commentaries include:

* Historian Michael Barrier and animator Dave Tendlar on the original Betty Boop cartoon, “Popeye The Sailor.”
* Animator Mark Kausler on “I Yam What I Yam.”
* Amimators Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua on “Blow Me own!”
* Historian Michael Barrier and animator Dave Tendlor on “I Eats My Spinach.”
* Historian Jerry Beck on “Wild Elephinks.”
* Historian Glenn Mitchell on “Sock-A-Bye Baby.”
* Filmmaker Greg Ford on “Can You Take It.”
* Director Eric Goldberg on “A Dream Walking.”
* Historian Jerry Beck on “Beware of Barnacle Bill.”
* Filmmaker Greg Ford on “Choose Yer Weppins.”
* Filmmaker Greg Ford on “For Better or Worser.”
* Historian Jerry Beck on “You Gotta Be A Football Hero.”
* Historian Michael Barrier and actor Jack Mercer on “King of the Mardi Gras.”
* Historian Glenn Mitchell on “Adventures of Popeye.”
* Historian Daniel Goldmark on “The Spinach Overture.”
* Writer Paul Dini on “A Clean Shaven Man.”
* Directors Eddie Fitzgerald and John Kricfalusi and cartoonist Kaili Fontecchio on “I-Ski Love-Ski You-Ski.”
* Directors Eddie Fitzgerald and John Kricfalusi and cartoonist Kaili Fontecchio on “Popeye The Sailor Meets Sindbad The Sailor.”
* Animator Mark Kausler on “The Paneless Window Washer.”
* Directors Eddie Fitzgerald and John Kricfalusi and cartoonist Kaili Fontecchio on “Lost and Foundry.”
* Historian Jerry Beck on “Protek The Weakerist.”
* Directors Eddie Fitzgerald and John Kricfalusi and cartoonist Kaili Fontecchio on “Popeye The Sailor Meets Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves.”

Non-Popeye bonus silent shorts include:

* “Colonel Heeza Liar at the Bat” (1915) (9:30)
* “Krazy Kat Goes A-Wooing” (1916) (2:44)
* “Domestic Difficulties” (1916) (8:18)
* “Bobby Bumps Puts A Beanery on the Bum” (1918) (4:37)
* “Feline Follies” (1919) (4:14)
* “The Tantalizing Fly” (1919) (3:56)
* “Modeling” (1921) (7:59)
* “Invisible Ink” (1921) (7:32)
* “Bubbles” (1922) (4:49)
* “Jumping Beans” (1922) (10:52)
* “Bed Time” (1923) (8:55)
* “Trapped” (1923) (10:58)
* “Trip To Mars” (1924) (6:47)
* “Koko Trains ‘Em” (1925) (10:08)
* “Koko Back Tracks” (1927) (9:04)

Plus:

* “Let’s Sing With Popeye” (1934) (2:10)

Expensive-looking, slow-moving and preposterous, Space 1999 was a strange show about the moon getting blasted out of Earth orbit by a nuclear mishap. The moon - the whole moon - and its moonbase would then zip around the galaxy visiting all sorts of alien solar systems.

It was a non-puppet series from puppet-series producers Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, whose puppet series were so soundly mocked by “Team America.” It was launched in 1975, between the “Star Trek” TV show and the big-screen "Trek" movie, but it reeks of Kubrick’s “2001” (1968) in its effects, its setting, its storylines and its title music. Kubrick’s “Clockwork Orange” (1971) may have influenced the lycra-happy costume design (not well-suited to Martin Laundau and Barbara Bain’s middle-aged physiques). “Mission: Impossible” (1966-1973) may have influenced its casting and title credits.

The costumes, zippered sleeves notwithstanding, look in retrospect a lot like those Robert Wise ultized in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.”

The new 30th anniversary set contains all 48 episodes, three of which come with commentary tracks. One is by a superfan, one is by two of the writers, and a third is by season-one producer Sylvia Anderson. I found Anderson’s the most interesting; she talks about how money-man Lew Grade (perhaps emboldened by his success with “The Prisoner”) gave his American stars, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, lots of creative control over the series. We learn Charles Crichton, who later directed “A Fish Called Wanda,” directed roughly a third of the “1999” episodes. There’s also a fascinating story about Stanley Kubrick contacting the Andersons about doing special effects for him.

Other extras:

* A short fan film, “Message From Moonbase Alpha,” which starred series regular Zienia Merton as Sandra Benes, and provided an ending of sorts for the series.
* Alternate sequences from key episodes.
* Vintage interviews with cast and crew.
* A vintage interview with set designer Keith Wilson.
* A special effects featurette.
* A film publicizing a “Space City” amusement park exhibit utilizing “1999” footage.
* A “Space 1999” Ice Lolly commercial.
* An original year-two behind-the-scenes featurette.
* A BBC behind-the-scenes segment.
* Original promotional spots and theatrical trailers.
* Photo galleries depicting memorabilia, special effects, and deleted and alternate scenes.

Babylon 5: The Lost Tales streets today, and longtime spy “Gaspode” said it’s strictly for fans:

About a decade and a half ago, somebody in Warners Publicity sent me the pilot for a new series that nobody had ever heard of, called Babylon 5. Never heard of it, but I popped the tape into my VCR for a look-see. The sound and music still hadn’t been added, the computer-generated FX were a bit wonky and some of the aliens looked like rejects from The Muppet Show. Believe it or not, I was hooked.

Earlier this afternoon, I sat down to watch a DVD of Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, first in a possible series of direct-to-video stories that take place in those in-between years before ‘Sleeping in Light.’ Let me cut right to the chase here: if you’re not a B5 fan, I would not recommend this little slice of interstitial continuity, because you don’t have a hope of figuring out what’s going on here. But for fans of the series, I think you’ll like it a lot. Mild spoilers to follow.

The initial volume, ‘Voices in the Dark’ is comprised of two stories that together run a bit more than an hour. In the first, Tracy Scoggins returns as now-Colonel Lochley who summons a priest (played by Alan Scarfe) to B5 in order to deal with a problem of a spiritual nature (which sorta makes sense, since he’s a priest and all). While both Scoggins and Scarfe do a decent job with the heavy lifting dialogue-wise, the pace is a bit too slow for my taste. While series creator Joe Straczynski (who wrote and directed TLT) has successfully explored religion before in episodes such as ‘The Parliament of Dreams,’ this one wasn’t quite up to that level.

The second story begins on Minbar, with President Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) heading back to B5 for a big shindig celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Interstellar Alliance. Unfortunately his trip is interrupted first by a pesky ISN reporter (played by a very sexy Teryl Rothery) and more disturbingly, a visit by technomage the enigmatic technomage (Peter Woodward, who doesn’t look a day older in this DVD, leading me to believe he really may be a technomage). Invading Sheridan’s dream state, Galen shows him a disturbing vision of the future, as well as a major-league moral dilemma. I don’t want to give too much away, but think about the problem that Christopher Walken talked to Herbert Lom in The Dead Zone and substitute a young Centauri prince for Greg Stillson.

Where the Lochley story lags a bit, Sheridan’s tale beautifully captures the spirit of what B5 was all about. There’s a nice performance by the always-dependable Boxleitner, and once again, Woodward gets all the best lines. And speaking of lines, there’s a wonderful reference to G’Kar and Franklin that will definitely raise a few tears from die-hard fans.

Okay, that pretty much covers things from a story perspective. Let’s talk about some of the other positives and negatives. On the plus side, the production values are top-notch. I was a bit worried to hear that TLT was going to be shot almost entirely on green screen, but with a few minor glitches where the characters appear just a little bit too superimposed over the digital backgrounds, the HD image is crisp and clean. There’s a wonderful opening credit sequence, and the digital FX are also superb, notably a sequence that takes place in a futuristic New York (at least we know where most of the budget went) and a new version of Hyperspace called Quantum Space. Finally, Christopher Franke’s score is as good as it ever was on the original series, with the possible exception of a couple of beats in the first story that were just a bit too heavy-handed for my taste, but that’s a minor complaint.

On the negative side, my biggest complaint is that TLT felt a bit deserted at times, particularly the Lochley story. One aspect of the original series that helped provide some of its texture was that the corridors were always filled with alien extras and station personnel. During the first half, I began to think the station had been evacuated, with maybe just half a dozen background extras, and the station is getting ready for a big tenth anniversary blowout? Maybe everybody was working in the B5 kitchen; you know how long it takes to get the spoo right. And while we’re on the subject, what’s the point of including a line that diplomats and ambassadors from a hundred different worlds will be on hand for the party when we don’t actually see any of them?

In addition to the main story, there are a smattering of extras including interviews with JMS and cast members, a pair of memorials to Andreas Katsulas and Richard Biggs, a series of JMS interviews called ‘Fireside Chats,’ and The Straczynski Diaries, which are a lot more entertaining than they sound. The best is a tongue in cheek segment in which JMS tries to convince straight-faced Warners exec Greg Maday that they can save even more money by replacing the actors with sock puppets, using the real-life actor’s voices. Okay, there’s just something about Galen being played by a black sock holding a Sharpie for a staff that cracked me up. And now that I think about it, maybe those sock puppets could have solved the problem with extras that I mentioned earlier.

So what’s the final verdict on Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, volume one? As a first effort in a new format, there are certainly a few minor flaws, but I imagine most of them will be ironed out in future volumes, and let’s hope this one sells well enough to justify them. With so many lost tales still to be told in the B5 universe, it will be interesting to see if Straczynski gets a chance to tell them.

Submitted for your approval,
Gaspode

Herc’s Popular Pricing Pantry

Those who have been wondering when Fox might issue an “Angel” version of its “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” Complete Series Megaset may be able to stop the wondering. Angel: The Complete Series Collector's Set has just arrived for preorder at $97.99, less than $20 per season.

I assume this new box will contain all the discs and extras now available in the separate sets in a new box with some new extras. Right now if you buy the five “Angel” seasons (pictured above) separately you’ll pay abut $140.

My advice is to pre-order and lock in the $97.99 price right now; those “Buffy” series-sets went up in price in a big fat hurry during the pre-order period. If Amazon raises the price between now and the street date (as it just did – by almost $100 - with the “Star Trek: Next Generation” complete series set), your price doesn’t go up. In the unlikely event the price goes down before Oct. 30, Amazon has a low-price guarantee that automatically gives you its lowest price posted between purchase and street date. And you can always cancel the order between now and then with no penalty if you change your mind or find a better deal elsewhere.

Its sister show, “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” is the better series overall, but “Angel” made my top-ten list every year it aired on The WB, and was number-one on that list the year it was cancelled. Made me laugh, made me cry, made me stare in awe. It really is one of the greatest TV shows ever aired and – unlike “Buffy” – always got better with each succeeding season.