1. To TopSecretK9 for the Rescuers Down Under DVD. I have a feeling the kid will soon be driving me as crazy with this one as he does now with Elmo in Grouchland, but hey—whatever makes him smile, right?
2. To Tom Wigton, for The Outer Limits Season 1 DVD; I have fond memories of watching OL in syndication as a kid; looking forward to revisiting these episodes.
3. And finally, DH, for Rod Serling’s Night Gallery – The Complete First Season. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen so much as an episode of this show, so I’m looking forward to addressing that omission in my pop cultural resume.
http://tinyurl.com/mttbz
What, no dvd of “The Message” ?
Oh! You are going to love Night Gallery! I still remember some of those paintings more than the episodes themselves. They have a very “haunting” quality.
Brrrrr. Night Gallery. I still am scared by the doll episode.
The voodoo doll they buried?
TW: Things
that go bump in the Night..Gallery
Night Gallery gave me the willies as a pup. I still remember one where a girl took a fork, scraped at her forehead in agony, and all these bugs came boiling out of the scrapes and down her face. Ack!
I used to have an excellent pop culture resume. I mean, it would get me in the pop culture door, but I just didn’t have the pop culture skills to back up my credentials with real pop culture results. I’m a pop culture failure. But who care, those pop culture jobs are being outsourced these days anyway.
Night Gallery rocks. You’ll like it. Meanwhile, did you see that Patterico pushed Tbagg onto his own sword?
He’s a real bastard for doing it, though it’s probably your fault that P made Tbagg out himself. We’ll know once Retardo chimes in, I’m sure.
Heh.
Lois Nettleton.
She was all over Night Gallery. Heck, she was all over every TV show in those days.
There was one with I think Lois & Rory Calhoun, where a women tried to kill her husband & he didn’t stay dead.
Wait a minute- I think that was every episode.
TW: Small
world
The Fish Lady episode is the one that gave me nightmares as a child. Any of you who watched the show regularly will know which one I mean.
TW: Was one of my favorite </i>programs<i>
Elmo! Elmo! God, I hate that fkr!
Pixie Pug – This Doll.
As many little girls of the time did, I had shelves of smiling dolls facing my bed. I trusted none of them after that, not even Bridget from “Sound of Music”…
My sister was even more freaked out that I was, IIRC. I think our bedroom got “redecorated” shortly after that…
I don’t know what season it was, but the Night Gallery episode that stayed with me was the one where they used a post-hypnotic suggestion to bring a dead man back to life with a secret knock. I stole the ending for a stage show I did a couple years ago. I mean, I paid it homage.
Aaahhhh! SarahW, that pic is so creepy! I recall a big redecorating thing, too. My sis and I shared a room at the time and all dolls ended up in a box after that episode. Probably around the same time my dad banned the show, lol.
Elmo in Grouchland? My son is two also. My wife and I have taken turns staying home with him, now it’s my turn, though part time. We have to watch Elmo’s World: The Wild Wild West on DVD way too often. And Thomas the Train. Over and over and over.
It’s the best time ever.
That doll is one of the scariest dolls of all time.
A belated thanks goes to you Jeff. For coming back the way you did. Don’t let the dust mite get too deep under your skin. Thanks a gain Jeff.
Outer Limits season 2 was better, IMNSHO. That’s when Ellison got involved.
Steven Spielberg directed the episode “eyes” with Joan Crawford. It was the pilot show. Not sure if it’s included in the first season.
Wasn’t Rescuers George C. Scott’s final project? Or is it just the last that I’m aware of?
Every time I watch it, I expect his McLeech character to suddenly blurt out something like “We’re going to murder those Kraut bastards by the bushel!”
Could be worse. My daughters are currently enamored with the original Rescuers which, next to the detestable Oliver and Company, has to be one of Disney’s worst movies.
TW: Gives me the same sensations as hearing fingernails on a chalkboard
I have a memory of a Night Gallery episode, that I watched as a child, implanted in my brain. It featured a puzzled bloke with large spiders in his flat that made strange clicking noises. I remember him asking his neighbour if he’d ever seen a spider as big as a dog.
Let us know if that one’s on there.
I haven’t seen Night Gallery since my childhood. The show used to scare the hell out of me, then. I haven’t looked into the DVDs because I’m thinking I’d probably find it hopelessly camp today.
Let us know what you think of it. Still scary?
Wasn’t there a scarey doll episode of the
Twilight Zone also? One of those dolls where
the eyes closed when you put her down…still
gives me the willies.
TW:Girl.Yes, I believe it was about a
girl. Ewww…scarey
does anybody remember one where everyone’s eyes were sewn shut? or glued shut or something? or was that just a bad dream?
seems like there was something about a dollhouse on fire, too.
oh wait. it think that was the twilight zone.
When I was a kid for a whole year I wore earplugs every Wednesday night just so I couldn’t hear the the music to the Night Gallery opening titles. 9pm, Wednesdays. For a whole year. I shit you not.
yours/
peter.
OL season 2 (1964) opener, “Soldier”, written by Harlan Ellison and starring Mike Ansara.
Ellison also wrote the “Demon With a Glass Hand” episode.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldier_(episode)
Demon with a Glass Hand is the one when Bain comes through the time mirror, right? Love that episode!
Fantastic location they shot it in.
Welcome back, Jeff.
This is why you blog, isn’t it? For the DVDs. And, of course, for the opportunity to write really long (almost Orwellian) sentences.
And the paste.
TW: bicycle. No, that doesn’t fit in at all. It may take the Turing generator a few days to warm up again.
What about that tiny voodoo doll that chased Karen Black? (He was fast!) Was that Night Gallery?
Yup – the Bradbury building in LA. Also featured prominently in Blade Runner, and earlier in the classic noir film D.O.A.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradbury_Building
Growing up and watching TV in the sixties was horrifying enough, but when my parents would watch
Night Gallery on their custom B&W Tv, those were sleepless nights. That and new episodes of COMBAT,
The Dick Van Dyke Show, and don’t forget Hobo Kelly and her magic mirror…
Oh come on. Elmo in Grouchland is frigging excellent. I can watch Vanessa Williams blowing raspberries for hours. Yeeeeaaa! Best darn movie the kids could have become permanently attached to.
TW: Quality?… Well, duh! Yes she is.
Yes, I know…little people and video repetition viewing. I never thought it would be possible I could HATE Winnie the Pooh.
I hope he likes it.
My kids attended a Montessori preschool. When my older son was 3, we were watching RDU together. As the camera pans across the globe showing the route, I pointed out the names of the couuntries (being such a great mom!). I said, “Look, those are the Marshall Islands.” My son looked at me and said, and I quote, “Mommy, that’s an archipelago.”
I forgot about the “teachable moments” and just enjoyed movies with him after than.
Harlan Ellison.
That bastar….er…
“I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.”
“Repent, Harlequin Said the Ticktock Man.”
And on and on…
Rescuers Down Under is one of the few sequels superior to the original movie. I wholeheartedly recommend the film to all. Everyone should get a kick out of an egg-stealing monitor lizard competing in a battle of wits with George C. Scott [that’s GEORGE C. FREAKING SCOTT, people!)
TW still as in, “I haven’t seen it in years and the memory still makes me smile.”
He did four more movies after the Rescuers before he died.
Nope, it was a Dan Curtis (he of Dark Shadows, the early Kolchak material, Burnt Offerings, etc.) movie, “Trilogy of Terror”.
Ok, so I can’t count.
Scott did eighteen more entries after “The Rescuers Down Under”.
Looking at the list, I can see why I don’t remember any of them: They were all on TV.
TW: I haven’t seen much TV lately…
That voodoo doll story is a classic.
N. O’Brain: Leave us not forget…
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708455/
That BASTARD!
(Reminds me of an old story sometimes told by Sam Fuller – Balzac and Dumas pass each other on the stairs of the Paris opera, nodding to each other in a friendly manner. After they part, each complains to their companions:
Dumas: “Damn Balzac! If only I could write like that bastard!”
Balzac: “That son of a bitch Dumas! If only I could make money like him…”
)
Judging from the sheer size and keening of the leftists who’re raving there, I’d say Patterico landed it right on target.
Harlan Ellison wrote some seriously twisted shit. I saw him do a live reading of his “Laugh Track” at a writer’s conference the day after he wrote it. Unbelievable. I think the guy went into some sort of ecstatic state. Merely reading his stuff doesn’t begin to capture the craziness.
Night Gallery… ooo, the one where Roddy McDowell murdered his grandfather (IIRC) and a painting in the house shows each step as his grandfather <TW>walked</TW> out of his grave… towards home.
Which know houses LAPD Internal Affairs.
Night Gallery? I always liked the “Pickman’s Model” episode. Nice little Lovecraft adaptation.
Saw it. It made appreciate the Joan Collins-Linda Evans tilt even more.
A later story in the series “The Caterpillar” would likely give anyone nightmares.
With the late Lawrence Harvey and the gorgeous Joanna Pettet, a man finds he can rid himself of a rival by dropping an “earwig” into the ear of the victim while he sleeps.
The creature, you see, eats and eats and can’t turn itself around…
Night Gallery still scares the crap out of me today, just to think about it, although for the life of me I can’t remember why or anything much about any episode of it. (I seem to recall one that freaked me out severely for some reason, one element of it was a jukebox that would play the same weird song no matter what you selected, and it sent everyone who heard it over the edge into madness. Sorta like It’s A Small World After All)
I think I was just starting high school when it premiered, and my sister, a huge Harlan Ellison stalker, er, fan, watched every episode with the sound cranked up as high as the parents would allow – Peter Jackson,I have complete empathy with you!
It’s funny, after two tours in the military, and a long civilian career in a traditional nightmare-inducing profession, my biggest bug-a-boo is a 35-year old sci-fi television series. Does that mean I’m crazy enough to start threatening Jeff’s family and then out myself?
TW Bringing Out The Dead just about covered it.
I like the Darkroom episode with Ronny Cox as a crippled VN vet and the Army men that go after him.
Spooky show. Jimmy Coburn was fear personified.