k7kbn-1 Reviews

Neverland (2011)

Not quite "Starcatchers" material, but worth the watching!

[7/10 · 6 December 2011]

I wondered just how much similarity SyFy's version of a Peter Pan prequel would have with the Dave Barry/Ridley Pearson "Peter and the Starcatchers" series, and come to find out there actually is some. A powder that has the ability to make one fly ("Starstuff"), an obsessed crocodile ("Mr. Grin"), and the names of Peter's mates -- not the first group, who returned to England at the end of the first book, but the next group: Slightly, Tootles, Curly, Nibs, and The Twins.

There's also a bit of a hat tip to Michael Scott and his "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" series in "Dr. Flood", who introduced himself as the Alchemyst to Queen Elizabeth the First. Of course, her majesty's Alchemyst was Dr. John Dee, who actually had nothing to do with the Philosopher's (or Sorcerer's) Stone; that was Nicholas Flamel...which brings us to yet another great series of books, this time by J.K. Rowling!

By the way, I'm almost 68 years old and I still enjoy books and movies of this sort!

The Night Stalker (1972 TV Movie)

Sheriff Butcher?

[1 September 2008]

From the mid-1950s through the mid-60s, the Sheriff of Clark County (Nevada) was W. E. "Butch" Leypoldt, known to his friends (and probably his enemies) as "Butcher". I'm not sure whether the writers knew of this or whether it was just a strange coincidence.

I knew "Butch"; he had gone to school with my dad and had been a salesman at Desert Motors in Vegas. Just about every car my family ever owned was a Plymouth, although there were a couple of Dodges.

Butch pinned my Eagle Scout badge on me in 1958. He and his wife never had any children, and he said at the Court of Honor that he had always sort of considered me his 'son'. I take that as a compliment.

Space Patrol (1950–1955)

Space Patrol was on television?

[31 March 2007]

I grew up in Las Vegas NV, where there was no television until 1954. I was in the 4th grade, and it changed life for us kids quite dramatically.

Having listened to the likes of Superman and The Lone Ranger on the radio, and developing a mental picture of what the characters were "sposta" look like, it was sometimes a letdown to see "impostors", even though the voices were the same.

"Space Patrol" never was televised in Vegas, as far as I can remember. I was a faithful follower of the Saturday morning radio show, however: "High adventure in the wild, vast reaches of space! Missions of daring in the name of interplanetary justice! Travel into the future with BUZZ CORY, Commander-in-Chief of the SPAAAAACE PATROL!"

The Twilight Zone: Third from the Sun (1960) Season 1, Episode 14

Perhaps I'm the only one to notice, but....

[10/10 · 3 July 2006]

...when we first see the ship behind the security fence, it looks suspiciously like the ship used in "Forbidden Planet". When the "good guys" are fighting off the "bad guys" so they can get out of Dodge or wherever, the ramp up which they have to climb looks suspiciously like the one that the "Id Monster" from "Forbidden Planet" had to climb.

Finally, when they're well out into space and we can see the interior of the ship...surprise! It IS the same "control deck" as in "Forbidden Planet"! All that's missing is Robby the Robot.

This isn't the first time the "Forbidden Planet" set has been used for other films and TV episodes. In the George Pal "The Time Machine", we can see the "Astrogator's Station" (the large hemisphere containing the means by which the ship is steered). The very Astrogator's Station at which Leslie Nielsen sat before he became Dr. Rumack in "Airplane", and Lt. Frank Drebbin...

Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. (1966)

World Premiere Aboard U.S. Navy Warship!

[8/10 · 20 April 2006]

The Aircraft Carrier in this movie is USS Kitty Hawk. I was a radioman stationed on the 'Hawk when Disney came aboard in San Diego and filmed some launches and recoveries. When we returned to San Diego the Disney crew left to go make the movie, and Kitty Hawk left for the Western Pacific and Viet Nam. When we returned eight months later, the world premiere of Lt. Robin Crusoe, USN was held right there on the ship. Disney studios came aboard and turned Hangar Bay #1 into quite a nice theater. Having been an usher in theaters in my home town of Las Vegas NV, I was assigned some ushering duty for that premiere (and I got to meet Dick van Dyke and Nancy Kwan!) Not the "greatest" movie of all time, but very entertaining.