ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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What's up this Saturday on All Sci-Fi!

Well, we start with a salute to the animated version which carried on after the Cro-Magnon TV studio executives canceled TOS.

Then we explore the problem of how Italians deal with sea food which likes the taste of Italians as much as they like the taste of seafood!

And finally we learn why it's actually dangerous to grab one of those disgusting roaches you find it on the kitchen floor when you turn on the light at 3:00 AM!
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Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1975)

I'm pleased to report that yesterday I watched episode one of Star Trek: The Animated Series and was VERY impressed!

My lack of enthusiasm for the character animation has always prevented me from appreciating this series up until now, but Beyond the Farthest Star has such a strong story and fine background artwork that I discovered I'd been underrating this series all these years.

I look forward to watching the rest of the episodes, and I'm more convinced than ever that the episode's video aspect could be replaced by high quality CGI (and perhaps improved the music as well), creating "new TOS" episodes with the voices of the seven original TOS cast members who starred in the animated series!

Pow, I grateful to you for convincing me that I've been wrong to low-rate Star Trek: The Animated Series.
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Tentacles (1977 Italy)

While searching for the name of the artist who did the wonderful poster for this movie (unsuccessfully, I'm afraid), I found a website which said the filmmakers sent out "octopus info sheets" to theaters with facts about octopuses, such as the way they can pursue their prey across land and over obstacles!

The website stated that the octopus in this movie never did anything like that, but it gave me a great mental image of a scene in which a monster octopus comes right up onto a beach and pursues the people!

Try THAT little trick, Mr. Jaws! Ha!

I also remembered how amazed I was at the scene in the Japanese movie King Kong vs Godzilla which showed a giant octopus on an island, crawling slowly towards a native village .

Here's a behind-the-scenes video of the octopus used in that movie, along with a clip from the film itself.
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_ Oodako Behind the Scenes Footage (King Kong vs. Godzilla)


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Here's the full movie, but with Japanese dialog and Spanish subtitles. (Learn two languages at once! )

The giant octopus scene starts at the 34:00 mark, and it includes few brief stop motion shots of tentacles grabbing the natives (not well done, I'm afraid).

_________________ King Kong vs Godzilla 1962


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Bug (1975)

I read this IMDB trivia item and was very glad I did!

According to producer William Castle, director Jeannot Szwarc approached him with a problem; Joanna Miles was "deathy afraid" of cockroaches and obviously didn't want them crawling on her. When Castle tried to demonstrate how harmless they were by having one crawl on his own arm, he was bitten.

I'm not "deathy afraid" of cockroaches, but they do creep me out to an unreasonable degree. I'm not overly afraid of spiders, and I'm only cautious of bees and wasps. Ants don't bug me () unless they start biting.

But on the rare occasion when I encounter a cockroach in my house, I can't bring myself to just slap it with my hand before it runs for cover. The idea is repugnant. Besides, even a good slap with an object doesn't always kill the little bastards and they get away!

Recently I decided I should just "man up" and grab the damn thing so I could throw it into the toilet. But after reading the above IMDB item, I looked up the question about cockroach bites. I found this.
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What happens if you get bitten by a cockroach?

Like most insect bites, cockroach bites cause the skin to react by swelling up and becoming itchy. In the rare case that a cockroach bite becomes infected, the area will become inflamed and fill up with pus. The bite may then become as large as your hand.
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I guess I'll just continue to keep my big can of Raid handy. But if they start burning messages like the one below into my counter top, I might have to try diplomacy!


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)