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Bud Brewster
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17637
Location: North Carolina
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 Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 11:33 pm Post subject: Columbo (1971) |
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I've started downloading episodes of Columbo using that's gone now . A fun show. After watching the thirteen episodes I was able to get of Banacek, I discovered I was in the mood for early 1970s "Mystery Movies of the Week", and I figured Columbo would be a good choice.
Peter Falk's disheveled detective is the polar opposite of the cool and impeccably dressed Thomas Banacek, but both guys are masters when it comes to putting small facts together to make brilliant deductions.
And in one episode there was a guest star we're fond of around here!
Notice how different Robby's chest panel looks? I wonder why they changed it for the show? And under his dome they added a wide rectangular piece at the top of the mechanism below the spinning gyros!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sat Jan 14, 2023 3:07 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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Robert (Butch) Day
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Location: Arlington, WA USA
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| Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 4:57 am Post subject: |
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Ask Bill Malone. That's one of his variations.
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Bud Brewster
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Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 2:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Robert (Butch)Day wrote: | | Ask Bill Malone. That's one of his variations. |
By gum, Butch, you might be right. This episode aired in 1974, when Malone was 21. He actually didn't become the owner of Robby until 1980, but Wikipedia says this in it's article about Robby.
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In 1971 the original 1956 Robby the Robot was sold to Jim Brucker and put on display at his Movie World / Cars of the Stars Museum, near Disneyland in Buena Park, California, where he was often vandalized by visitors.
Robot historian Fred Barton was commissioned to restore Robby to his original 1956 state while the robot was still on display at the museum. Barton used original duplicate replacement parts made for the Forbidden Planet suit by MGM's prop department. It was, however, in a desperate condition once again several years later.
The museum closed its doors in 1980, and Robby, along with his vehicle, original MGM spare parts, and shipping containers were sold to William Malone. Malone noted that Robby had once again fallen into a state of disrepair.
Having built the first ever replica of Robby in 1973, Malone was able to carefully restore the robot prop to its original condition using additional spare parts which the original builders had stocked in Robby's stage cases some 25 years earlier. The original Robby the Robot remains in Malone's collection as of 2015.
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So, either Bill modified his copy of Robby (or another one he also built) for the Columbo episode, or perhaps Fred Barton created this variation on Robby's design.
I'm a bit more inclined to think it was Barton who made this variation, rather than Malone, but I haven't found anything to confirm this yet.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Aug 25, 2016 5:41 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Krel
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| Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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It was Bill Malone's Robby reproduction in the episode. The Producers saw his Robby reproduction and wanted to use it in the show. But Bill Malone didn't want Robby to be stock for the episode, so he made the modifications you see in the show. Bill Malone has talked about this over the years, and there was even an article in the TV Guide at the time. Back then TV Guide had some great articles.
David. |
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Bud Brewster
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Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 10:30 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, David!
I talked with Butch on the phone about an hour ago and he said basically the same thing (about it being Bill's creation), but it was also very interested to hear about how Bill wanted this modified Robby to be the guest star.
That's terrific! 
I downloaded Mind over Mayhem from Gorillavid.com and I'm looking forward to seeing it. I think this link will allow you to watch it if you get the urge. Just click the "continue" button in the middle when you see it appear, then the play button in the middle of the player window.
http://gorillavid.in/0a7dakyrljdl
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Aug 25, 2016 5:39 am; edited 1 time in total |
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MetroPolly
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Joined: 29 Nov 2015
Posts: 185
Location: Oakland,CA
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| Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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That's the ep with Nimoy, right? Eh, not my fave. I love the show, but one of my fave eps is the one with Louis Jourdan. Call me a romantic.  |
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Bud Brewster
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| Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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Actually, no, Leonard Nimoy played a surgeon who killed a nurse (played by Anne Francis) because she found out he'd poisoned a colleague.
The one with Robby has Jos?? Ferrer as computer expert who programs Robby to run a war game simulation for him while he's off murdering his wife.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958) |
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MetroPolly
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Joined: 29 Nov 2015
Posts: 185
Location: Oakland,CA
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| Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 9:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Whoops. Well, I'm still not a fan of that ep anyway. Our rumpled detective looks totally out of his element. |
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Gord Green
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Joined: 06 Oct 2014
Posts: 3001
Location: Buffalo, NY
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| Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 3:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Ahhhhhh.......Just one more thing............. |
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
Joined: 14 Dec 2013
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Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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I watched a Columbo episode on MeTV recently in which Vera Miles played a rich, ruthless, middle-aged woman who ran a successful cosmetics company.
She was competing with another company owned by Vincent Price, and she desperately needed a new product to boost sales and get her company out of financial difficulty.
A brilliant-but-arrogant young chemist (played by Martin Sheen) develops a cream that quickly removes facial wrinkles in minutes, and the effect lasts for hours! The cream is an extract from plant cells.
In other words . . . it's Genucel . . . forty years before the new miracle product actually appeared on today's market! 
I watched the episode with wide-eyed wonder, because this crime drama from the 1970s had actually predicted a modern-day cure for old ladies who desperately want to smooth out their aging faces!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958) |
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