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Saturday, October 16, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
CREATURE WALKS AMONG US
I just looked at a set of 3-D Realist slides that my pal Joel Rasmussen gave me some years back from behind the scenes on the set of Universal's CREATURE WALKS AMONG US. They are absolutely gorgous and I even bought a vintage 3-D realist viewer to look at these. They are pictures of the CREATURE being made up for the scene where he gets burned by a lamp on a boat shortly before his transformation in the film. The film was the third and last film of the classic UNIVERSAL INTERNATIONAL series and the movie was not shot in 3-D like REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (the 2nd film) was BUT the 3-D photos are the best I have ever seen.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
YUKON GOES GREEN!
This RANKIN/BASS BLU RAY set (AKA THE ORIGINAL CHRISTMAS CLASSICS) came out today and I will try not to be mean..... When I say YUKON CORNELIUS has gone GREEN...I mean it literally. On the RUDOLPH disc, Yukon is now wearing a green outfit and so is one of the heavy set elves and the tall elf with glasses (only part of the time...he flashes between blue and green). Of Course, in the original RANKIN/BASS special, all of their outfits were BLUE BUT I guess the people that remastered the special for BLU RAY took some creative license. Yet another example of not knowing the material and what they are dealing with, or for that matter, caring. There are absolutely no EXTRAS other than a CD with a few various Christmas songs in a paper sleeve.
In all fairness, I do like the quality of the specials. If they are not in true HD, they sure look like they are. The screen jumps and sound warbles that were in some of the songs on the original DVD releases, appear to be fixed. I have only had a chance to review RUDOLPH and FROSTY so far.
I do not like the packaging. look at SANTA on the front cover. It reminds me of SESAME STREET'S "One of these things doesn't belong here." Where is this picture from? It doesn't look like the Santa in the right hand column of my blog and it looks like he has dark eye lashes? The single covers are even worse...bad air brushing over photos and the logos used are not from the shows and overlap the images for no reason. Patrick Owsley's art on the FROSTY THE SNOWMAN case is beautiful and represents the character well BUT the design takes away from the art. The descriptions on the backs of the DVDs and box appear to have been written by a child and don't say much.
One day, I hope this package is done right. For now, it is good to have the actual specials (RANKIN/BASS Specials) in BLU RAY format. I know BILLIE MAE RICHARDS was anxious to do an interview for a project like this before she passed away and so are many others in the RANKIN/BASS camp. One day, one day....
In all fairness, I do like the quality of the specials. If they are not in true HD, they sure look like they are. The screen jumps and sound warbles that were in some of the songs on the original DVD releases, appear to be fixed. I have only had a chance to review RUDOLPH and FROSTY so far.
I do not like the packaging. look at SANTA on the front cover. It reminds me of SESAME STREET'S "One of these things doesn't belong here." Where is this picture from? It doesn't look like the Santa in the right hand column of my blog and it looks like he has dark eye lashes? The single covers are even worse...bad air brushing over photos and the logos used are not from the shows and overlap the images for no reason. Patrick Owsley's art on the FROSTY THE SNOWMAN case is beautiful and represents the character well BUT the design takes away from the art. The descriptions on the backs of the DVDs and box appear to have been written by a child and don't say much.
One day, I hope this package is done right. For now, it is good to have the actual specials (RANKIN/BASS Specials) in BLU RAY format. I know BILLIE MAE RICHARDS was anxious to do an interview for a project like this before she passed away and so are many others in the RANKIN/BASS camp. One day, one day....
Email Rickgoldsc@aol.com Lots going on! We are talking about 2010 RANKIN/BASS T-shirts in grey...Some other cool things on the horizon too!
Coming in early 2011
Monday, October 11, 2010
Support http://www.preservehollywood.org/ I have to THANK my friend Cortlandt Hull again for sending me his DVDs! I watched 40 YEARS OF CHILLS: A KALEIDOSCOPE OF HORROR and enjoyed interviews with my friends Basil Gogos, June Foray, Dan Roebuck, Sara Karloff and Cortlandt! Also enjoyed seeing Christopher Lee, Ron Chaney, Bela G. Lugosi, Zacherly, Ben Chapman, Ricou Browning, Bob Burns, etc. A fun Halloween DVD to watch!