The Giant Space Amoeba Returns!

            Yes, the 1968 Star Trek episode “The Immunity Syndrome” was actually the return of a space amoeba!

            I’m going to assume that you, dear reader, are familiar with “The Immunity Syndrome,” a second-season Star Trek episode first shown in January, 1968.

            When I re-read some of my old comics, I was bemused to come across a story which could certainly make a casual consumer think that the Trek story was ... ahem ... inspired ... by this comic-book tale.

            The third story in April 1959’s Action Comics #251 is “The Giant Amoeba of Space,” a Tommy Tomorrow tale set in 2059.  The story is by Otto Binder. The art is by Jim Mooney, who would soon take a big step up in reader visibility as the artist for the Supergirl feature in Action, although her origin (in the next issue, #252) was drawn by Al Plastino.

            As you can see, some of the same language from this comic is used in the Trek story.

MCCOY: That is an amoeba.

KIRK: Yes, I remember my basic biology, Doctor. You mean to tell me that that thing is a giant single-celled animal?

MCCOY: Yes, for lack of a better term. It's a very simple form of life.

             My only question as I look at this three-shot from “Immunity Syndrome” is: Where is Dr McCoy’s other leg?

            In the Star Trek episode, they learn that shooting energy at the blob only feeds it.  In “The Giant Amoeba of Space,”  the Space Patrol figures out, just in time, that bombing the thing will only split it into a bunch of new space amoebae. So they try:

 Robots …

 … a “loaded” comet, a giant space net, and a giant harpoon.  But nothing stops the thing, and it’s on a course ... for Earth!  (Another trope used in Star Trek, in The Motion Picture of 1979.)

             Wait, here’s an idea ... freeze it!  Unfortunately, the only way this can be done is ... gulp ... from the inside!

             ... Just as the Enterprise sends a shuttle and later enters the blob itself.

            But, as perhaps is appropriate given its “pioneer” status, the comic-book tale comes up with a funnier ending.  After Tommy Tomorrow has started the deep-freeze process from inside the Space Amoeba, he won’t have time to get out ... yet he does.  How?

With itching powder!

Of course, nowadays, we might locate the expulsion a little differently, like a giant space-fart.

And that’s our tale of the Space Amoeba which might have inspired a Star Trek episode!

See you next Monday!
 

WATCHMENUTIA: SPOTTING RORSCHACH

SPOTTING RORSCHACH

            Here are some of my observations while traversing Watchmen for an extended period.  These particular notes refer to that squidgy-faced guy, Walter Kovacs, later known as Rorschach.

1:7:3 – In Annotated Watchmen, Leslie Klinger says that Rorschach’s jagged word balloons are reflections of the distortions in his voice caused by the mask.  However, in 1.10 and 1.11, his speech balloons are just as jagged when his mask is up.

03 - Swollen Teats Watchmen 02 - 26.jpg

2:26:6 – Note that while R’s journal talks about “heads between teats,” in the panel Blake hits the wall “art” with his head between the teats of the nekkid girl on the wall.

 5:11:1 – Even the food stain on the plate in Kovacs’s counter is mirror-equal!

 As you can see in 6:6-7, at least in 1951, JDs were smoking regular cigarettes, not ball-pipes.  Probably the ball-pipes are a more expensive habit!

Somebody tell me! What the heck is that hanging-balls mobile which dangles at top of panels 3-4-5 on page 8 of Chapter Six?  It’s also seen 13:6.

07 - Kitty G - Watchmen 06 - 10.jpg

Please read all of page 10.  How did Kitty Genovese, a bar manager with some clerical skills, have the money for a special-order dress?

Look at the chalk outline of Genovese’s body in the New York Gazette in panel 6, then read the bottom row of panels, as Kovacs says that this world’s Kitty Genovese died outside – Kovacs says, “outside her own apartment building.”  On our Earth, the attack commenced outside, but the actual rape-murder took place inside her building, in the rear hallway.

 6:12 – It’s an interesting story point, but it’s unbelievable that in any prison, anywhere, the prisoners are within reach of “hot cooking fat.”

In Kovacs’s “My Parents” story, he applauds the A-bomb’s use, with the same rationale that Veidt proclaims for his mass murder.  Perhaps the moral difference to Rorschach is that Ozzy’s act was a secret one, in an undeclared war.  It was also an action chosen by a single man who is evidently blind to his own egomaniacal side.

“My Dream” is dated 5/27/63, but this must be a typo – Kovacs was in the Charlton Home in 1953 – in 1963 he was 23 years old.

This is how panel 3 on page 25 of Chapter 10 appears in the original comic.  Notice the out-of-place quotation marks in the lowest speech balloon.  Everybody knows you don’t use quotation marks in comic-book speech balloons!

Well, Annotated Watchmen reports that the words in question aren’t in Alan Moore’s submitted version of the script – they were added after the fact.  This is the reason for the funny pasted-on appearance & quotation marks in original comic – Just like Mr. Spock’s famous airbrushed eyebrows, it’s a change added when the thing was supposedly already done.

On the other hand, we have this explanation from Dave Gibbons, in Watching the Watchmen (Titan Books, 2008): “I missed the third word balloon and it was added by DC Editorial” (page 265).

This panel also jarred me in the original – it’s in 10:27:6.  This about it ... what does “all the rats running of you” even mean?  This was a plain boo-boo by Dave Gibbons, who also lettered this beast.

You can see the black lines between the lettered words ... to me this looks like ol’ fashioned white correction tape.

The oversight was corrected in bound printings.

Gibbons’s comments about this one, also from Watching the Watchmen: “DC had rearranged the words in the second balloon and then, realizing Alan’s original order was, unsurprisingly, better, had swapped them back again” (page 265).

Well, that’s my somewhat blemished take on some aspects of Rorschach in Watchmen.  See you next Monday!

Thanks for spotting stopping by!

Celebrating the Big Show

Beginning a sometime series about showbiz ….

Circus-Carnival Songs

          Here’s an incomplete list of pop songs concerning showbiz and circuses.  Happy hunting!

 Bring on the Dancing Horses - Echo and the Bunnymen

Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves – Cher

 Palisades Park – Freddy Cannon

Tears of a Clown – Smoky Robinson

Circus – Britney Spears

The Carny – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

The Night the Carousel Burned Down – Todd Rundgren

Freakshow – The Tiger Lillies

 Life Is a Carnival – The Band

The Show Must Go On – Three Dog Night

 Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite! – The Beatles

Circus – Tom Waits

The Kid – Peter, Paul & Mary

Spinning Wheel – Blood, Sweat & Tears

The Skeleton and the Roundabout -- The Idle Race

The Flying Wallendas - Drive-By Truckers
Carnival Time - Leftover Salmon
Eastern European Carny Man - Drive-n-Cryin

Tightrope - Justin Hayward

Goodbye Cruel World – James Darren

The Tears of a Clown – The Miracles

 Paxton's Back Street Carnival - Strawberry Alarm Clock

 The Clown – Conway Twitty

 Spinnin' and Spinnin' -- Syreeta Wright

Molly – Biff Rose

Dreams – Grace Slick

I Want Out of the Circus – Cracker

Ha Ha Said the Clown – Manfred Mann

Human Cannonball – Loudon Wainwright III

Funhouse – P!nk

On a Carousel – The Hollies

See you next Monday.
 

Silly Amazon Suggestions

There’s something charming and a little wacky about Amazon’s “suggestions” algorithms.

For example, when I bought a 5-piece luggage set last year, Amazon suddenly decided that I must want to buy a bunch of female clothing to fill the bags up.

 Check out the gold-plated stainless steel.  Talk about the best of two worlds!

And if this is a sandal, I’ve been doing it all wrong!

I wonder who exactly would buy shorts which are “no image available”?

 Either I’m a cross-dresser for buying the luggage, or I’m about to elope with a very fashionable woman.

I cannot even imagine a world in which a person would want to wear a “sticky bra”!

See you on Monday for another swipe at modern-day life.  Or maybe a celebration of modern-day life ... I’m not sure yet.

Happy Independence Day! Re-Post: MA-73 - American Favorites

Here's an anthology of music about our great country, re-posted because its previous appearance from 2014 is a dead link.

01. The Star-Spangled Banner - Jerry Goldsmith (1:22)

02. This Land Is Your Land - Peter, Paul & Mary (2:27)

03. Let' s All Be Americans Now - Arthur Hall (3:05)

04. People Like You and Me - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (3:46)

05. The Stars and Stripes Forever - The US Army Ceremonial Band (3:33)

06. Home On The Range - Roy Rogers & the Sons of the Pioneers (2:41)

07. God Bless America - Kate Smith (2:04)

08. Variations on 'America' - Charles Ives (7:10)

09. The House I Live In - Frank Sinatra (3:39)

10. The Magnificent Seven Main Title - Elmer Bernstein (1:59)

11. Pleasant Moments - Scott Joplin (3:02)

12. Ragged Old Flag - Johnny Cash (3:08)

13. No Restricted Signs (Up in Heaven) - Golden Gate Quartet (2:59)

14. You're a Grand Old Flag - James Cagney (5:39)

15. High Noon - Tex Ritter (2:47)

16. Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me) - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (3:11)

17. Battle Hymn of the Republic - John Williams & The Boston Pops (5:01)

18. A Lincoln Portrait - Aaron Copland (15:44)

19. The Stars and Stripes Forever - Vladimir Horowitz (4:00)

Yes, Track 1 is from Poltergeist -- but it's also one of the best arrangements of our national anthem ever.

Track 18 is a live recording of a broadcast I stumbled across around 1980.  That's Copland himself narrating.  So it's a treasure, even if the dub is of less than pro quality.

https://www.filefactory.com/file/4s1atc8u9nnk/MA-73.rar

Thanks for stopping by, and have a thankful Fourth of July.  See you on Thursday!

  

Taking Off the Month of June, See You on Monday, July 2nd!

Come see me at SoonerCon!

Latest Book Is Now Available! Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Volume 1

Hey campers, here's the latest book from Jacobs/Brown Press.  And it's a doozy.

Note the spiffy co-author byline.  I manhandled this thing around the corral and back, so it's up the food chain I go (or something like that).

This socko, boffo book will tell you all kinds of nifty stuff about Irwin Allen and his lead-up to the VTTBOTS series.  You'll learn about the movie which was the springboard of the series, and the first season.

And this is just Volume 1!

Buy this puppy directly from JB here.

You may purchase from Amazon here.

Go now … you'll thank me!

 

MA-125 - It Stampeded from the 1980s

You're gonna love this one, D.F.!

01 - Face of the 80's - Landscape   1981   (3:25)
02 - Please Please Please - The Bings   1981   (2:39)
03 - She's Got???? - Dizzy and the Romilars   1982   (2:06)
04 - Just One Kiss - Maria Vidal   1985   (4:01)
05 - Run, Run, Run - What If Thinking   1985   (3:02)
06 - You Don't Turn Me on Anymore - Stranger Than Fiction   1980   (4:56)
07 - Drums - Red Wedding   1982   (3:49)
08 - Paper Heroes - Krew   1986   (3:38)
09 - What Are You On - Manikins   1986   (3:04)
10 - Pogoin's for Me - Cindy & the Gidget-Haters   1980   (2:14)
11 - Time Will Tell - Thrash!   1982   (4:21)
12 - Paint Love Blue - Primary Colours   1985   (3:56)
13 - Talking with the Heart - Vienna   1987   (4:11)
14 - The Eye of Madness - The Visitor   1981   (3:30)
15 - Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage - Killer Pussy   1982   (4:10)
16 - Evil - 45 Grave   1983   (2:53)
17 - Left of Center - Suzanne Vega   1986   (3:32)
18 - I've Had It - Louise Goffin   1981   (2:37)
19 - Cheese - Mo   1982   (2:41)
20 - Stranger than Fiction - Seven   1984   (3:38)
21 - Futility - The Ravishing Beauties   1982   (3:19)
22 - Paracetamol Paralysis - The Distractions   1980   (2:48)
23 - Polystyrene Tiles - The Seize   1984   (1:28)
24 - Black Box - Housecoat Project   1988   (2:15)

Just don't add Tracks 6 and 18 and tell it to me … "I've been here since a quarter to nine, I can't feel my legs but I'm feelin' fine!"  (Name the song in this comp containing those lyrics, I dare you!)

https://www.filefactory.com/file/a1k12rsf422/MA-125.rar

See you Monday, cool cats!

  

MA-124 - It Eroded the 1980s

We got us some socko, boffo tunes right hyar, baby!

01 - Catch a New Wave - The Metropolitans   1986   (3:59)

02 - Boys Can Cry - Catholic Girls   1982   (2:43)

03 - Mad Heat - The Popular Sex   1984   (3:22)

04 - Paralyze - Drama   1985   (3:41)

05 - The Serpent - Fantasia   1989   (3:16)

06 - First to Know - Doubledare   1986   (3:25)

07 - E102 - BMX Bandits   1986   (3:41)

08 - Cubismo - Data   1985   (3:47)

09 - Lies - Frame by Frame   1985   (4:04)

10 - Pretty Day - Mary Möör   1982   (2:58)

11 - I'm a User - Donnie Iris   1983   (2:27)

12 - Nobody Told Me - The Monitors   1981   (3:36)

13 - Been Teen - Dolly Mixture   1981   (2:25)

14 - Practical Girl - The Clique   1983   (3:09)

15 - City of Fame - Hillary Laddin   1980   (2:19)

16 - Johnny Quest - Pack Nine   1982   (2:54)

17 - Not Goin to Work - Boy Girl   1986   (3:00)

18 - Television Satellite (extended version) - Sophie & Peter Johnston   1987   (3:45)

19 - Waiting for Tomorrow - Shadowboys   1983   (3:34)

20 - Living in a Movie World - In Fear of Roses   1988   (2:17)

21 - Power of TV - Sandglow Marinas   1982   (3:22)

22 - Running Past - Strike   1980   (3:05)

23 - Keep Going - Fou Gorki   1984   (3:38)

24 - On Your Video - TV Smith   1983   (3:07)

Don't take my word for it … go out and listen for yourself!

https://www.filefactory.com/file/4yhyd0e7138m/MA-124.rar

See you again on Thursday for the wrap-up of the Musical Month of May!