A Message from PUTZO, the Clown Who Loves Lousy Fandom! And who dares say the three original "Star Wars" films are better than the new ones? Are you kidding me? Jar Jar Binks, Watto - these guys are much more realistic than R2-D2 and Chewbacca!!! Hayden Christiansen can kick Mark Hamill's ass any old day!!!
Lots of people complain about sequels and remakes - I love 'em!! Who needs the 1970's when we got sweaty hotties runnin' around in the new "Hills Have Eyes"? The '70s were so grainy - damn, I love the new film stocks they got now - crisp and clear like a nice, shiny fun house mirror!
Drew Reiber made sum comment on the boards that science-fiction is dead as roadkill. Horsehockey! It's still twitchin' and bitchin'! Just look at "Serenity". Now dat's sci-fi! Why, we even have a whole channel devoted to it - The Sci-Fi Channel! What's wrong with you, don't like "Boa vs. Python" or "Frankenfish"?!?
I heard Lalino say the other day that until he starts buying Starlog again, sci-fi is a lost cause. I dunno what he's been watchin' probably some old crap like "Forbidden Planet", "Without Warning", "Quark", or "Futureworld". I told him to partake in the new "Battlestar Galactica" and git with the program! And of course there's always "I, Robot", "A.I.", "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" and other genius works like dat.
And fantasy? It's better than ever!! Just look at "Eragon" and "Harry Potter"! I have to laugh when Lalino defends "Dragonslayer" and the 1st Edition D&D gaming system! And a cell-animated "Lord of the Rings" from 1979? Don't make me laugh! Cell animation should be put out to pasture like the old silent movies to make way for wonderscapes of plutonium-powered PC Pentium pixxel processors.
So I say, don't listen to Lalino! Let him live in the past with his Roger Corman and Ray Harryhausen DVD's! I'm moving forward!!! Just look whut I have to look forward to: Indiana Jones 4!! A remake of "Silent Night, Deadly Night"! 'Shrek 3'. Damn, that's great entertainment, and I can't wait to buy the action figures at the 90% off bin at my local Dollar General store.
Well, I'm Putzo and that's my two cents! Gotta run now, and go power up the XBox while I watch my 'Farscape' DVD's.
Don Dohler is Gone This Crazed Fanboy also remembers Dohler fondly for two of my favorites: the great horror films "Fiend" and "Nightbeast".
Sadly, Dohler was only 60 and was the victim of brain cancer, passing on Dec. 2nd, 2006. So glad we have his late '70s/early '80s masterworks to remember him by. R.I.P.
Ay, all yous "Crazed Fanboys" out there, this is Putzo the Clown. I had to respond to that hack Oddservations tripe about the state of fandom in 2007, and, with the possible exception of the horror genre, how there's been a whole lot of nuthin' goin' on in the world of fantastic films for the past 20 years. Dat's bullshit!
Why, the very first thing I watched in 2007 was an "original" episode of "Star Trek", but it's even better than ever! It's got all-newCGI spaceships and shit, which finally bring it out of the stone age and into this wondrous new era of pixxellized penguins. Just in time too; I'm so over the hokey modelmaking and crappy compositing from the olden days! Those guys sure didn't know what they were doing, and anyway, real special effects began when mouse-clicks began replacing the blood, sweat, and tears of those oldmodelmakers and stop-motion animators! I can't wait for the day the pixel wizards replace Shatner and Nimoy with their computer wizardry - they're a couple of nobodys compared to Cap'n Picard and Data! For chrissakes, this is 2007, not 1966!! Get with it, people!!
Shame on us for not being aware of this sooner, but one of the great Fanboy filmmakers of all time has passed: Maryland's Don Dohler. We old-timers remember Dohler as the grass-roots hero who made very entertaining and endearing sci-fi/horror films on a low-budget. What fanboy in 1978 didn't drool over "The Alien Factor"? Dr. Paul Bearer fans will recall "The Alien Factor" playing repeatedly on Creature Feature - a sure-fire don't miss for all Monster Kids. Dohler (despite being associated with Starlog and Fangoria) even scored a Famous Monsters cover shot with one of "The Alien Factor's" creatures. He was also the creator of the amateur filmmaker's periodical bible Cinemagic (which yours truly still owns all issues of), which taught disciples the in's and out's of DIY special effects.
"Oddservations" is ©2007 by Andy Lalino. The Oddservations banner is a creation of Andy Lalino. All other graphics are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2007 by Nolan B. Canova.