Showing posts with label The Fly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Fly. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Episode 89: Christmas with Vincent


 

Happy holidays listeners! When we were planning this episode of Planet 8, we thought, "What says happy holidays better than Vincent Price?" This episode we celebrate the career and life of a true Renaissance Man, Vincent Price, with our special guest, Lord Blood-Rah.

Price is a legend as a horror film actor, and we will discuss some of his many films, including The Tingler, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, The Fly, House of Wax, and more. Price played a variety of roles, sometimes sympathetic, sometimes malevolent. But regardless of the role, he had a charm that won audiences over.

For many monster kids, our first encounter with Price was on television, perhaps through his role as Egghead on Batman, or even in his many appearances on shows like The Brady BunchLove Boat and The Muppet Show. He also displayed his wit and wisdom on game shows like The Hollywood Squares, and frequented talk shows, where his culinary skills might be on display! 

Price even authored cookbooks (with his second wife, Mary), aimed at the average American family. Cooking Price-wise and A Treasury of Great Recipes were very popular cookbooks in their time, and Treasury was republished in 2015 for a special 50th anniversary edition. He loved cooking and making recipes more accessible for people.

He was also an art collector. He had a Masters degree in fine arts and had a lifelong appreciation of art, and a desire to preserve art and bring art to the public - again, making art more accessible to the average person. Today much of his personal collection resides in the Vincent Price Art museum in Los Angeles College in Monterrey Park, California.

Price also had quite a career as a voice actor. His wonderful voice allowed him to play the lead role as The Saint on radio in the late 40s. More modern listeners would recognize Price as the narrator from Michael Jackson's Thriller. 

Price comes across as a fascinating, kind, and charming gentleman that we would love to sit down with, perhaps over a dinner from a recipe in one of his cookbooks, and just have a long conversation. 

For this episode's Sensor Sweep, Lord Blood-Rah shares with us all his latest happenings. First up, he has a podcast, Lord Blood-Rah's Nerve Wrackin' Auditorium, in which he hosts old time radio horror and science fiction shows, like Inner Sanctum, Lights Out and more. You can find it on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple, and more. The website is Anchor.FM/lordbloodrah. In the Bay Area, every third Saturday night of the month, he's hosting Chiller Theater at the Orinda Theater, showing classic horror and Sci fi. His regular TV series, Lord Blood-Rah's Nerve Wrackin' Theater is going into season 12! Go to the website, Lordbloodrah.com to check out new episodes and everything else going on! He also has a Patreon, where you can support what he is doing, Patreon.com/Lordbloodrah. There you can get his exclusive weekly show, Lord Blood-Rah's Cathode Zone, where he presents classic TV shows. Big news: he may have a comic book available soon!

We want to wish you all happy holidays - and best wishes for 2022!

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Episode 73: Bugged by The Fly!


 

What's that buzzing past your shoulder? A tiny fly? How annoying! Now imagine that you and that fly have somehow become inextricably joined, with you taking on the traits and even the physical aspects of the insect. This is the horror of The Fly, both the original 1958 film and the 1986 remake. On this episode we explore the concepts and stories of The Fly films, including the later sequels of the original film. We are joined once again by our good friend and honorary crew member, Lord Blood-Rah!

The original film was based on a short story that appeared in (of all places) Playboy magazine. A scientist experimenting in teleportation accidentally merges himself physically with a fly in a failed experiment and gradually loses his humanity. The film largely follows the short story.  Vincent Price stars as the brother of the scientist, in a rare sympathetic role. David Hedison (billed as Al Hedison) plays the scientist, driven to perfect teleportation, but tragically doomed by his own ambition. Your Planet 8 crew discusses the the film in detail.

Naturally we compare it to the 1986 Jeff Goldblum remake. Obviously the David Cronenberg-helmed 1986 film was much more grotesque, focusing on body horror, on the absolute degradation of the transformation. But it is also a love story, with Geena Davis playing the romantic interest. Certainly there's a lot going on in the film that speaks to fear of what can happen to us and our bodies that is timeless.


There's also a lot of plain goofing around in this episode too, but hey, what did you expect?

This episode's Sensor Sweep is from Chef Engineer Bob. Appropriately he shares the book, The Fly at 50, from Bear Manor Media (it's readily available at Amazon). Everything you want to know about the making of this sci-fi classic is in this book.

Bob also reminds us that there's still time to get tickets for Godzilla's Monster Bash at the Balboa Theater in San Francisco, held May 14-16. Ten classic Godzilla films will be shown. Go to  http://www.bayareafilmevents.com/godzillafest for more info.

Lord Blood-Rah starts season 11 of his Nerve Wrackin' Theatre on May 7th. The season kicks off with the Karloff classic, The Ghoul. Go to http://www.lordbloodrah.com/ to find the best way to see Lord Blood-Rah's Nerve Wrackin' Theatre. Also, Lord Blood-Rah's Patreon is going strong,  and at the $10 level you get access to Lord Blood-Rah's Cathode Zone. There will be a special giveaway for Patreon members on May 1st.

Karen made a guest appearance on our friend Billy Dunleavy's podcast. Magazines and Monsters. Billy covers sci fi films and Silver, Bronze, and Copper age comics. Karen and Billy reviewed an obscure British sci fi film from the 60s called The Unearthly Stranger.

Bonus: Commander Larry and Chief Engineer Bob will appear on the May 1st episode of Creature Features! Shown on KOFY TV in the Bay Area, you can go to Creaturefeatures.TV, or find them on ROKU, or YouTube. The film for that episode is The Manster.

Once again, thank you listeners for joining us. Be sure to share your thoughts about The Fly -any and all versions!

This episode is dedicated to Trixie