William Shatner Week: The Horror at 37,000 Feet

Hidey ho Shatner fans and welcome to Day 4 of William Shatner Week.  We start off with a film from the far away time of 1973…my mom hates when I do that.   This film involves demons, Christian faith and a steadfast plane.  Sounds like a hybrid of Incubus and Snakes on a Plane I know but fasten your safety belts, keep your tray table in the upright position and place your oxygen mask on first before assisting others.  This is The Horror at 37,000 Feet.

Dammit Trekkies, I said no autographs right now!

I don’t understand. Why did spoiler do it? For those people? You talked to him last. Why?

Similar to the themes of Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and Salem’s Lot, this TV movie comes to us as a telefilm that was described to me as The Exorcist meets Airport.  A disturbing concept altogether; our plane bound for hell leaves Heathrow Airport commanded by Captain Slade (Chuck Connors of The Rifleman, Branded, Soylent Green and Airplane II: The Sequel) and his copilot Frank Driscoll (H.M. Wynant of Perry Mason, Branded, The Search for the Evil One, Gunsmoke and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes) as they embark their way back to L.A. with ten whole passengers and 11,000 lbs of an almost reliquary in the cargo hold.  This would explain the lack of extras on the plane. 

SLEEEEEEEEP!

Architect Alan O’ Neil (Roy Thinnes of The Invaders, Black Noon, The Manhunter, From Here to Eternity, Falcon Crest, Mind Benders, Dark Shadows and Spectropia) and easily irksome wife Shelia (Jane Merrow of The Girl-Getters, The Lion in Winter, Hands of the Ripper, Airwolf and Lovejoy) have returned from Shelia’s ancestral home to wit they faced baseless lawsuits, back breaking labor disputes and finally removed a sizeable chunk of the home to add to their existing home in L.A.   I believe this woman has either a sugar imbalance or does not suffer fools lightly.  Along for the ride is spokesperson of the lawsuit impending mob Mrs. Pinder (Tammy Grimes of Can’t Stop the Music, The Last Unicorn, Loving and High Art) grumbling from coach and causing more migraines than bleach.  A slightly inebriated and cynical former priest Paul Kovalik (William Shatner of Barbary Coast, Perilous Voyage, A Whale of a Tale, T.J. Hooker, TekWar, 3^rd Rock from The Sun and Osmosis Jones), a cantankerous millionaire Glen Faree (Buddy Ebsen of Northwest Passage, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones), a fashion model Annalik (France Nuyen of South Pacific, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, St. Elsewhere, Knots Landing and The Joy Luck Club) and a philosophical physician Dr. Enkalla (Paul Winfield of Blue City, The Terminator, 227, L.A. Law, Babylon 5 and Dead of Night) are all accounted for the flight from/to Hell. 

This film does not even wait for the plane to take off as Shelia hears a Gregorian chant with her name through her headphones, a freezing wind travels through the cockpits chilling our captain and pilots and one of the stewardesses is trapped between floors in the automated dumb waiter.  What will happen next and to whom?

 

Hmm the script says you an ungrateful cow.

A few notes about the film I thought you might find particularly interesting.  This film has a Lovecraft feel to it from the foley sound effects from Forbidden Planet, the cut scene frost effects against the windows and the amazing music score of Morton Stevens (The Wild Wild West, Hawaii Five-O, A Man Called Horse and Police Woman).  The tension is properly ratcheted, the characters are on edge and the story develops nicely.   The cast was very impressive and each performance was rather good.

William Shatner Week: Incubus

Hello all and greetings to Day 3 of Shatner Week.  We shall look back in time to an era before Star Trek but to an Outer Limits based movie in what is a horror movie. What could a mere mortal do against the awesome powers of a creature that corrupts men and steals their life force?  Hold long could a man fend off a being that such seduction?  Grab a cold shower, think of baseball and don’t listen to that inner voice.  This is Incubus.

Randy old goat indeed.

Do spoilers like the sea?

In the fishing village of Nomen Tuum there is a miraculous well that heals the sick and makes people beautiful.  Because of the latter several individuals of a corrupt or base nature flock to this amazing well unbeknownst to them is a source of evil.  Throughout the village succubae flood this land in order to lay claim the myriad of tainted souls leading them to their deaths and stealing their souls for Hell itself.    Sounds bit like marriage, eh fellas?   Okay now that we got that sexist pig joke out of the way, on with the story.  A young soldier name of Marc (William Shatner of Judgment at Nuremberg, The Defenders, For the People, White Comanche, The Andersonville Trial, Go Ask Alice and The Horror at 37,000 Feet) who was injured gravely in the last war travels with his sister Arndis (Ann Atmar of Street-Fighter, A Cold Wind in August, Checkmate, The Third Man and Police Story) in the hopes she can help his wounds by the healing properties of the well.

Them sirens done lured another boat to the rocks!!!

Intrigued by the acts of selfless a young succubus named Kia (The Phantom Planet, A House Is Not a Home, Simon, King of the Witches and The Man in the Glass Booth) befriends the siblings and follows them in their journey. Her sister succubus Amael (Eloise Hardt of Song of Love, The Juggler, Save the Tiger, Bronk and The Kentucky Fried Movie) warns Kia the dangers of a pure soul and that the power of love is most dangerous to their kind.  So they outlawed Huey Lewis and the News music as well. 

Here are just a few tidbits about the movie overall.  The entire film has been recorded in Esperanto of which Shatner is fluent in but it also has English subtitles for those of us to follow. During the latter half of the 19^th century this was constituted as an international language and is still used to this very day.  

Help me, Spock!

The principal cinematography took about 18 days and most of the locations can be found around Big Sur Beach as well as near Fort Hunter Liggett in Monterey County.   I must warn female viewers that there is a depicted though not overtly visualized rape and murder sequence.  More of an implied rape scene really so nice to see a bit of taste went into their personification of evil.

Probably just a case of Romulan VD.

Long time writer/director Leslie Stevens (Stoney Burke, The Outer Limits, Kraft Suspense Theatre and The Name of the Game) was said explaining the use of Esperanto was to give the film an eerie and other world like feel.  You know in case the demons roaming around the village was not enough.  Curiously enough it is this film that gave Stevens helm to direct several Star Trek episodes later on.

175th Blog!!!! TekWar

 This is my 175^th blog and I welcome you all back kiddies to Day 2 of William Shatner Week and I thought we would tackle some Sci-Fi this time.  No I said we are not commenting about Star Trek or Star Trek themed projects.  Instead I thought we would discuss Shatner’s written work Tek War.  A series of the year 2120 when humanity has turned to cyberspace as a drug called Tek.  It accesses the fantasy portion of your brain, making all dreams come true and spares you the pain of life.  The downside is it will eventually kill you.  So grab your net gear to jack in the matrix, have your credstick and keep your wits about.   This is TekWar.

 

Sweetie, it happens to every man eventually.

Spoilers can surf the matrix like a knife through butter.

After four years of his fifteen year incarceration former cop Jake Cardigan (Greg Evigan of DeepStar Six, My Two Dads, P.S.I. Luv U, House of the Damned, Pacific Palisades, Family Rules and Cerebus) is released from his deep freeze capsule and moved of the prison complex escorted by an android name of Winger (Maurice Dean Wint of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, The Swordsman, Earth: Final Conflict, PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, Robocop: Prime Directives, Blue Murder and Cube) and sent back to his home with his wife and son had left, a time elapsed message was left waiting for him saying the embarrassment of his imprisonment was too much for them both to handle so out on parole he goes to a Tek dealer to get Tek to numb the pain.

Takes...a brave man...to wear... a teal trenchcoat.

 

Cardigan wants justice for his wrongful confinement, his partners were killed and he was framed.  His former partner Sid Gomez (Eugene Clark of 3 Men and a Baby, Night Heat, Sweating Bullets, Knight Rider 2000, Side Effects, Turn It Up and Land of the Dead) yanks him out of the Tek and tells him to get cleaned up and he had a job for his ex-con buddy.   A private investigation firm Cosmos Security is headed up by a man Walter Bascom (William Shatner of Incubus, The Third Walker, Disaster on the Coastline, The Kidnapping of the President, Broken Angel, Free Enterprise and $#*! My Dad Says) who hates Tek as much as Cardigan.

That's Cowgirl, not Call girl.

His methods and motives are his own but Cardigan takes it is stride just to have a shot at Tek Lord Sonny Hokori (Von Flores of Eclipse, Johnny Mnemonic, The Assignment and Earth: Final Conflict)  and finally clear his name and record of all the slime it has been drug through.

Now I would also like to point out the various Canadian actors that made their bones with TekWar.  The following is thus: Lexa Doig (TekWar, CI5: The New Professionals, Jason X and Andromeda), Torri Higginson (TekWar, Memory Run, Storm of the Century, Deep in the City, Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis) and Catherine Blythe (TekWar, Terminal Justice, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Papertrail, Shapeshifter and A Taste of Life).  This phenomenal 9 novel series spawned 4 TV Movies, a TV series and helped provoke the imagination of future times in the same fashion novelist William Gibson (Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive) made for the cyberpunk genre. 

Thanks for reading and again feel free to drop messages on my Facebook page and the blog for some suggestions.

William Shatner Week: Impulse

Hey there folks and welcome to Day 1 of William Shatner Week and I think I managed to find a doozy for starting off.  I wanted to step away from Star Trek as much as humanly possible.  So what could be less Kirk that a gigolo/con man/serial killer?  Yes Shatner is getting to play a disturbed villain for a change.  So hunker down in your chair, have some popcorn and dig those groovy threads.  This is Impulse.

Trust me ladies...

Spoilers should be ground up for dog meat!

Young Matt Stone is awakened in the middle of the night because Mom is a bit tipsy with a jarhead visitor.  Our proud portrayal of the Marines spots the kid and points out he clear needs to learn how to take a woman.  Yes this is the first four minutes of our movie.  Matt grabs a katana; whacks jarhead then guts him when the guy lunges at him.  Several years later Matt (William Shatner of 77 Sunset Strip, Incubus, Hound of the Baskervilles, T.J. Hooker, Tekwar and The Practice) is no longer institutionalized for his childhood mishap and is…a bit on the creepy side.   Matt is all grown up and frequents belly dance bars all the while omitting a sort of dark charm about his person. 

Breaking up is so hard to do.

After she tails him the night before, Helen (Marcia Knight of Skydivers, Darker than Amber and Stanley) sets her foot down and reads him the riot act.  Matt takes this all in stride by throttling her to death.   He goes from unbridled rage to an almost childlike innocence when talking to the now former Helen.   Sensing the po pos will not let this behavior stand he ditches his ’73 LTD in the drink with Helen inside.  Heh heh the perfect crime…except the evidence she was throttled but hey the trace evidence should wash away.  The ’73 Charger he gets later was an excellent ride as well.

In need of a new sugar momma, Matt makes the scene with Widow Ann Moy (Jennifer Bishop of Hee Haw, House of Terror, Mako: Jaws of Death and Jessi’s Girls) but pesky daughter Tina (Kim Nicholas of Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, Limbo, Salty and Black Sunday) thinks this fly by night Johnny come lately may just be after Mother’s money.    Having a disagreement with an old grafter buddy Karate Pete (Harold Sakata of Goldfinger, Dimension 5, Record City, Death Dimension and Ninja Strikes Back) Matt tends to him with such flamboyance and utter glee in his face you know this cat is completely off his rocker.

Kids, never accept a ride from strange Shatners.

I have just a few things about the film if you can handle that.  Now the film is exploitation at its most tawdry.  The sex scenes are a little racy so best not let the kids see it.  Just because it is low budget does not mean they do not push the envelope on an over wise thin script.  The premise of the story is apparent but Matt’s motives are not.  It is almost he is just crazy for the sake of crazy.  Again childhood drama notwithstanding, he never did seem to bounce back from it.

Hang in there, kitten. Friday's coming.

I love the car crash scene into the river as it was all one continuous shot and looked amazing for a rig and while my copy of viewing was grainier than a field of wheat, the sound was clear enough and the picture decent to view.  Shatner’s performance was just damn eerie.  After this film you will see him in a different scope.

Shatner Week!!!

This week I am focus on a man's career that has span over 50 years from Radio, The stage, TV and movie.  From Captain Kirk, Sgt. T. J. Hooker, Walter Bascom of TekWar to Denny Crane of The Practice.  He is an author of science fiction, a spoken word and vocal artist and various commercials including Priceline.com as the Priceline Negotiator.  I will be dipping into some of the more obscure movies and some that we all know and enjoy.

You...need...breath mints!!!