IMAGINATION THEATER – Old Time Radio Phenomenon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scifiemporium.com

Before there was TV and DVD and
such, there was Radio!  People actually huddled around the gigantic radio (some
were the size of the “ancient” console TVs) listening to their favorite radio
show.  Casting the visuals within their neurons.  Hard to imagine huh?  I
thought so too so long ago.  Until I had an enlightening experience with the
interesting realm known as “Old Time Radio”…

 I actually got into the OTR
phenomenon by accident.  About twenty years ago, I was visiting a friend who was
living in a small town in Arkansas, a 45-minute drive from where I used to
live.  We had such a good time fishing, barbecuing, jaw-flapping, and stuff that
I let the time and the Sun slip by.  Before I knew it, it was past midnight when
I got into my Monte Carlo to head back home.  The radio portion of my
radio-cassette stereo was not working and to make things worse, I did not bring
any cassette tapes (this is right before the CD era) to listen to on my lonely
ride home in the deserted, dark country roads. 

My friend, hearing me griping
about the situation, tossed a cassette to me.  It was a cassette on an Old Time
Radio show called “House On Cypress Canyon” from the Suspense series.  My gripes
climbed a pitch higher and I told him that I did not want to listen to some show
from when my Dad was knee-high to a grasshopper.  But he persuaded me to take it
along and since I did not have much of a choice anyway, I reluctantly cranked my
ignition and inserted the tape into my car stereo as I looked towards the dark
road ahead.

 Now mind you… this is a
well-seasoned but still functional 1978 Monte Carlo I was driving… the size of a
little boat… and I had cranked up the volume to keep myself from falling asleep
at the wheel.  To tell you the truth, I didn’t have to…  I am still getting the
goosebumps as I write this note as I recall the feeling I had listening to
“House On Cypress Canyon”.  Without revealing much of the story, let me just say
it is about werewolves…  The story, the sound effects, the actors, the loud back
speakers of my Monte Carlo, the dark road in front of me made the whole
experience chilling.  I recall feeling my heart thumps finally slowing down when
the tale finally ended.

Then I flipped to the other
side of the tape…

Bad move…

Little did I realize that I was
in for the thrill and chill ride all over again!  This time it was a tale named
“Four fingers and a thumb” from the Witch’s Tale series.  You guessed it… it is
a tale about a severed hand crawling around…  It spooked me so much that I kept
looking into my rearview mirror to check if there was any movement from my
backseats!

I actually drove around the
town for about 15 minutes before I pulled into my driveway just so I could
finish that tale!  I was hooked!  I never, in my wildest imagination, thought
that old time radio shows can be that captivating.

Thus started my venture into
the wonderful world of OTR collection.  First with horror, suspense, and sci-fi
shows and eventually into the other genres.   I have collected tens of thousands
of shows from the various genres and series over the years.

If you are interested in great
“futuristic” old time radio shows – Buck Rogers, Dimension X, Time Travel tales,
Space Travel tales, Mars tales, H.G. Wells tales, Ray Bradbury tales, Isaac
Asimov tales, Robert Heinlein tales, Clifford Simak tales, and plenty more –
click on the link below.

http://scifiemporium.com/old-time-radio-shows.html

Planet Of The Apes VS Planet Of The Apes

 

 

 

 

Scifiemporium.com

More specifically, Planet Of The Apes (1968) vs Planet Of
The Apes (2001).  This was a tough one.  Especially for someone who has always
been a Planet Of The Apes fan.  Here’s the humble attempt in trying to pick one
over the other. 

I was fascinated as a kid by the movie, and the concept and
theme behind it, when I first watched it.  I’m talking about the 1968 version
here.  Can anyone say anything bad about the makeup (by John Chambers)?  Come
on… what a piece of miracle on the silverscreen.  Remember this was back in
1968!

Charlton Heston as the humbled human, the jaw-dropping
make-up, the taglines in the movie, and the final climax that was originally
penned by Rod Serling (yeah the Twilight Zone Guy) will always be etched in film
history for years to come.  It was such a big hit that it spawned several
sequels.    And it deserved it.

 

Now comes the 2001 version.  Yeah it was great.  Yeah Rick
Baker did an amazing job of attempting prosthetic make-up in this age of CGI
(even guest-staring as a stoned Chimp in the early sequence of the movie).  But
the storyline…

Unfortunately, it did not hammer my neurons much.  Sad to
say.  Unlike the 1968 version which had my brain juice kicking like it was in a
frantic soccer game.  Let’s face it… Sci-Fi addicts like us, need some theme
that should weave all the fantastic ideas together.  I never saw that in this
modern remake.  And the ending… I’m still confused by it, let alone disappointed
that it did not cause me to gasp.  Then again, it is hard to beat the original.

I guess that most of the moviegoers agreed with me.  The
new remake was a boxoffice hit but did not reach the barometer level to spawn
sequels.  Though a prequel is set for Summer 2011.

I guess any amount of fantastic and futuristic ideas
without any theme/moral to bind it together is not going to reach its full
potential.

 

For The Love Of TV Heroes…

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I was watching a kid the other day, playing, mimicking his hero – Superman. He had the cute outfit on and was running against the wind, his
fluttering cape following him loyally. And a smile broke out on my face as it brought back memories from yesteryears – my childhood. 
When I had my own hero…

My hero growing up was the Six Million Dollar Man. Also known as Steve Austin, the astronaut turned bionic man who was rebuilt after his near-fatal accident that caused him his left eye, right arm, and both is legs. He was rebuilt at the cost of… you guessed it… Six Million Dollars.

I remembered being glued to the TV screen watching the wonderful feats my hero did week after week. Steve (played by Lee Majors) was larger than usual. Faster and stronger than anyone I knew. He could run faster than a speeding sports car. He can jump over a 20-foot electrified fence with ease. No jail can hold him in. He can spot danger from a mile away.

In short, he was invincible.

I remember (and embarrassingly confess) arguing with my childhood friends that the Six Million Dollar Man was more heroic than Spiderman or Superman!

I remember watching it a few years back as a retro re-run on the SciFi Channel and I must confess, it looks a little corny now. But I guess you can never fully get rid of the childhood memories and warm fuzzy feelings that still linger when I remember watching it on TV as a kid with chocolate milk and a cookie on the coffee table.

Steve Austin made me feel invincible.

Made me feel like I can excel in that long jump and high jump competitions in school.
I guess every kid, just like that one kid who was racing against the wind, pretending to be the strongest man alive, every kid must have a hero s/he has to emulate. To boost the confidence and juice up the imagination machine. Let’s all have our own heroes. Heroes who will bring out the positive alter-ego in all of us
to do the right thing.