Episode 108: Walt Disney Halloween

 

In this Halloween episode, we take a look at the scary animation, films, and park attractions of Walt Disney. Typically we think of Walt Disney features as being funny  family-fare, but there were quite a few memorable frightening moments or characters in Disney features. We're fortunate to be joined by the hosts of the Walt Disney Family Museum official podcast, Bri Bertolaccini and Chris Mullens, who share a ton of amazing stories and details with us! So get comfy as we take you on a tour of Disney frights, from the Skeleton Dance to Pinocchio, from Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent to Dr. Syn, all the way to Disneyland's famed Haunted Mansion. You'll be covered in goose bumps when we're done!

You'll also be itching to visit the Walt Disney Family Museum! Our two guests Bri and Chris not only host the WD-FM podcast, they are also part of the team at the museum too. So for the Sensor Sweep, they share what's going on at the museum, which is located at the Presidio in San Francisco. Currently, the museum is featuring a special program, Walt Disney's The Jungle Book: Making a Masterpiece (link) through January 8, 2023. Coming soon is Spirit of the Season, a community art exhibition (link) opening November 17th which runs through the holiday season. And don't forget to tune into the Walt Disney Family Museum official podcast, where you can hear more from Chris and Bri on a range of Disney-related topics! You can find WD-FM on most podcast aps, at https://www.waltdisney.org/podcast, or at their YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/c/WDFMuseum.

That's it for us. We hope you enjoyed this special Halloween episode. Please share your thoughts with us at any of our social outlets below:

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Happy Halloween!

Episode 103: If I Were a Carpenter: The Films of John Carpenter

In this episode we celebrate and explore the films of legendary film-maker, John Carpenter! Carpenter is such a unique director, a man who has always done things his own way, with a real talent for story-telling. The Planet 8 crew will start by discussing Carpenter's early life and how he became a film-maker.

We move on to a discussion of the qualities that define John Carpenter's style. Obviously we'll talk about his work with his film soundtracks, but there are so many other aspects to a "John Carpenter film" - the 'slow burn' or building of suspense, his use of unusual camera angles or long takes, his distrust of authority figures, and so much more.

As we go through Carpenter's style, we'll talk about his films, lingering on some of our favorites, including The Thing (we dedicated a whole episode to it -you can hear it here),  Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York, They Live, and Big Trouble in Little China. But we also talk about some of his films that aren't on our favorites list too, just to balance things out.

Without a doubt, Carpenter has an impressive and varied portfolio that includes some real classics. If all he had ever done was make The Thing, he would be a master, but he's made so many films that exhibit incredible skill and style. He's truly an amazing film-maker.

For the Sensor Sweep this week, we sadly note the passing of Nichelle Nichols, famed for her portrayal of Lieutenant Uhura on the original Star Trek. Nichols was 89. Beyond the impact she had in her role as one of the very first African American women on TV who wasn't in a subservient role, Nichols went on to work with NASA to recruit women and people of color into the astronaut corps. A constant presence on the convention circuit, she was known for her warmth and beautiful smile. She will be greatly missed.

That's it for this go round. Please share your thoughts with us on anything we talked about -or forgot to talk about!

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Are you crazy, is that your problem?

Episode 85: Haunted Halloween Movies!

 

It's almost Halloween, so of course, all October, the Planet 8 crew has been watching scary movies! Of course, we tend to watch scary movies all year long, but it's a little more concentrated this month, and we focus a little more on certain films this time of year. This episode we discuss what type of films get us in the "Halloween spirit" ! If you're looking for ideas for things to watch leading up to Halloween, tune in!

For Chief Engineer Bob, it's all about spooky films with a comedic twist. Some of the films he likes to watch to get into a Halloween mood include the Don Knotts classic, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, Munster Go Home,  and of course, Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. Another great scary yet humorous film to watch is John Landis' An American Werewolf in London.

Recon Officer Karen always starts with the Universal Monsters, and this year it began with Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, which has the creepiest opening of any Universal monster film. Next up was Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, which never fails to entertain. She'll be moving on to  the Hammer films, in particular the Hammer version of The Mummy. She also watched some John Carpenter movies, The Thing and Prince of Darkness.

Commander Larry has been showing his wife Jasmine a lot of films she's never seen before, but more on the lighter side. One of these was The Monster Squad, which is still entertaining and has some great updated designs for the classic monsters. He also had some Hammer films on his list, including the Hammer Phantom of the Opera.

Of course we divert and digress and discuss Phantom of the Paradise, Phantasm, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Milpitas Monster (really, we swear), and many others!

For the Sensor Sweep, Bob came across an unusual Blu-Ray -Night of the Animated Dead, an animated version of the classic Night of the Living Dead. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a stinker. The animation is just not very good. It's also basically a shot for shot recreation of the film. So this is our first trick, not treat, sensor sweep!

All right, friends, that's all this time around. We wish you all a safe and fun Halloween! Let us know what movies you're watching.

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Happy Halloween!

Episode 84: Halloween Memories with Mr. Lobo!

 

It's that time of the year again - no, not National Pizza Month! It's October and that means it's time for Halloween! If you're like the Planet 8 crew, you're pretty much celebrating Halloween all the time, but October gives you permission to do it publically. With us on this episode is friend of the show, host of Cinema Insomnia, Mr. Lobo! In this smorgasbord of an episode, we'll talk a little about the roots of the holiday, how it changed over the years, and then we share our own childhood Halloween memories of favorite costumes, trick or treating experiences, and so much more!  We may wander off topic a bit, but we think you'll be entertained!

Unfortunately we couldn't find photos of all the childhood costumes we discussed, but we will share a few other pictures.

For our Sensor Sweep, we throw it open to Mr. Lobo, and he is a busy man! This month he'll be hosting three pop up drive in shows at the Vintage Cafe, on the 8th,15th, and 22nd in Paradise, Pennsylvania. He's been holding live Twitch streams on Saturday nights at 9 pm EST and does Q and A. He's working on a new Cinema Insomnia episode, featuring Rick Sloane's The Visitants. OSI74 is his streaming channel and you can see episodes of Cinema Insomnia there along with a ton of other cool stuff. There's also a YouTube channel for Cinema Insomnia with 60 episodes available to watch. If you haven't seen Mr. Lobo, be sure to check it out!

That's all for this time. We'll be back with more Halloween fun in a couple of weeks!

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Happy Haunting!

Episode 37: Halloween on the Small Screen

It's that time of year again, when creepy and scary stuff abounds! Besides all the great horror movies out there this time of year, there are a ton of great TV show episodes that either focus on Halloween or have themes that fit the holiday. We talk about some of our favorites ones on this episode.

Larry discusses a few classic Star Trek episodes with spooky themes, including the eerie "Catspaw." Did you catch the Cthulhu references in the episode? Did you know it was written by Robert Bloch of Psycho fame? We look at a couple of Next Generation episodes too.

Karen reminisces about The Simpsons'  Treehouse of Horror specials, and focuses on a few favorite segments. So many of these were take offs or homages to classic sci fi and horror films or shows, especially The Twilight Zone.

Bob shares a classic Halloween episode of Route 66 -Lizard Leg and Owlet Wing (see it on YouTube here). It featured Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr, and Peter Lorre. it was the last time Karloff wore the Frankenstein Monster make-up! Our chief engineer also covers a bunch of others, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Big Bang Theory, Laverne and Shirley, Married with Children, and more.

Do you have memories of some favorite TV show episodes that centered on Halloween? We'd love to hear them.

Chief Engineer Bob says hands off my Godzilla game!!

For our Sensor Sweep, Bob has managed to get a hold of the new Bandai Godzilla card game! Not only that, but we have a special interview with the game's designer, Ryan Miller! So be sure to check that out to learn about this cool new kaiju card game.

We want to wish you all a spooky, creepy, monster-filled Halloween!! And feel free to share pictures -past or present -of your costumes at our Facebook or Twitter sites.

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Thanks for listening!

Episode 32: A Blast from Creatures Con!

Commander Larry and Chief Engineer Bob made the visit to Creatures Con again this year and we have some great interviews to share (Recon Officer Karen was stuck in the satellite with a bad case of Venusian flu). 

Michael McCreery, proprietor of Mantiques in Fremont, California, shares with the boys his unique collectible, the Mecha-Creech! This modern day chimera is truly something to behold. Check the Sensor Sweep below to learn about this fantastic beast. And if you're ever in Fremont, stop at Mantiques at 37671 Niles Boulevard - you won't believe all the cool stuff there!

Returning guest C. Andrew Nelson, know to us for playing Darth Vader in many video games and other Lucas projects,  tells us about his latest project, Theme Parkology! If you have an interest in Disneyland and other theme parks, you'll want to hear about this new series that will explore the origins of various parks and their attractions. You can find Andrew at http://candrewnelson.com/, and you can see his amazing video fish tank at Aquatasy.

The multi-talented Strephon Taylor discusses the efforts to bring Creepy Koffee Movie Time to Amazon Prime, as well as the many documentaries he has produced over the years, including his recent one, I Believe in Halloween, and Jack Pierce, Maker of Monsters. You can find Strephon's movies at Novemberfire.com.

Our last guest was the man, the myth, the legend, the great John Stanley! John is well known in the Bay Area as the second host of Creature Features, the show started by Bob Wilkins which inspired so many people. John was a film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle for over 30 years, and besides hosting Creature Features, he has authored a number of books, including the notable Creature Features film guides. John is always a pleasure to talk to and he graciously spoke with us about his many projects, past and present. You can see John's work at http://creaturesatlarge.com/ and http://stanleybooks.net/catchall.htm.

Our Sensor Sweep this week is by Commander Larry and features the amazing Mecha-Creech. This vinyl figure is part Creature from the Black Lagoon, part Godzilla, and a crazed montage of skateboarding, heavy metal, and other references! Truly a wonder of the modern day.

Thanks again to our friends Lord Blood-Rah and Tom Wyrsch for putting on Creatures-Con and for having us once again! We had a blast! We're already looking forward to next year!

We hope you got a good taste of Creatures Con. Please share your thoughts, here, or at our other listening posts:

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Thanks for Listening!

Episode 12: A-Haunting We Will Go

From the Disney film, Lonesome Ghosts, 1937

What was that? You thought you heard footsteps upstairs? But we're the only ones here... Join your Planet 8 crew as we explore the mysterious world of ghosts and the undead! We talk to intrepid investigators of the paranormal on this Halloween episode. Devin Sisk and Ellen MacFarlane take us  for some spectral encounters on the Napa Ghost and Legends Walking Tour (https://www.napaghosts.com/). Then Mina Harker tells us all about her Vampire Tour of San Francisco (http://www.sfvampiretour.com/), a creepy night-time journey through the Nob Hill area of the City. On top of all this, you'll get to hear Engineer Bob's own hair-raising ghostly encounter! We  want to thank the folks at Creatures Con for making these interviews possible.

We hope everyone has a fun-filled Halloween! Be sure to let us know what you thought of this episode, and if you have had an experience with the supernatural, feel free to share it with us in the comments here, or at the other places where you can find us:

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Thanks for Listening!

Our closing song this episode is The Zombie Stomp by the Del Airs. 

Episode 11: Horror Hosts A Go Go

It's October, so it's time for all things creepy and spooky! Come with us as we go back and explore the history of horror hosts with our good friend, the knowledgeable and witty Lord Blood-Rah. For many of us, our memories of classic horror and monster movies are inseparably bound with the unique characters who presented these films to us, late on a Saturday night. Bob Wilkins, Count Gore De Vol, Svengoolie, Elvira, Seymour -  the list goes on and on. We reminisce about these classic hosts, as well as talk about some of the newer ones,  the ins and outs of procuring films to show, and how many hosts have transitioned to the internet. If there's anything you wanted to know about horror hosts, you need to listen to this episode!

Commander Larry, Lord Blood-Rah, and Engineer Bob at the Chouinard Winery

Lord Blood-Rah has a couple of big shows coming up that are not to be missed. First, on October 13th, is Lord Blood-Rah's Nerve Wrackin' Theatre Halloween Horror Show at the Landmark Cinema in Peoria, Illinois! Our Lordship will be showing a bunch of scary short subjects followed with the cult favorite, Horror Express! You haven't lived til you've seen  Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Telly Savalas(!) together in a film.

Then on October 27th, Lord Blood-Rah brings the chills to Moraga, California and the Rheem Theater for his Halloween Psycho Show, where he'll screen selected shorts and the classic Dementia 13! For more details on both shows, and also info on how to catch Lord Blood-Rah's Nerve Wrackin' Theatre, go to his site: http://www.lordbloodrah.com/

Our closing song for this episode is from the talented Mr. Lobo of Cinema Insomnia (http://www.cinemainsomnia.com/). Many thanks to him for allowing us to use it. We hope you enjoy "Halloween Candy."

That's it this time -we'll be back with more Halloween fun in a couple of weeks! Please tell us about your favorite horror host and your thoughts on the show either here or at:

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Thanks for Listening!