Favourite Fours: Terror of the Zygons

Howdy Whovians and other such readers and welcome to Day 2 of Favourite Fours. This episode is the first of Season 13. In fact it is the first of the serials outright. The Doctor, Harry and Sarah have all returned from escaping the cold calculating claws of the Cybermen as they are summoned by U.N.I.T. Via Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart to deal with shenanigans in Scotland. Are these done because of specters or aliens? This is Terror of the Zygons.

So Ms. Cleo, that is 4.99 for the first five minutes.

Narrowly evading the clutches of the Cybermen the Doctor, Sarah and Harry have been summoned to Earth via the Space-Time telegraph, a device that can communicate with the Doctor throughout time and space but it must be used only in the direst of emergencies. The Brigadier explains to the Doctor that several oil rigs have been destroyed by a force or forces unknown and unseen. Structurally sound rigs have been demolished from something with more strength and force that a category 4 hurricane and aside from the mist rising up there have been no weather anomalies.

Sarah speaks with the landlord Angus in the village's inn, the temporary U.N.I.T. HQ and she learns of a folk legend of the land around Tulloch Moor, where a great many people have up and disappeared down through the centuries never to be seen nor heard from again. Given the sonar is not reporting of any creatures, ships or foreign powers operating in this area, the Doctor proceeds to construct a device to detect for signal jamming in the local area. Harry goes for a walk along the moor, when clearly An American Werewolf in London warns us of moors is ignored why he spots a fellow from the last oil rig Munro. Before Munro can tell Harry what happened to the rig he is shot in the back by person's unknown and Harry is shot as well.

Ahh!! the wanton destruction of scale models!!!

A phone call to HQ lets the Doctor know that Harry was found on the moor shot and is being treated for his injuries. He and Sarah try to find out what was the cause and realize he is too weak to speak. The Doctor leaves and with his impressive peepers to some wreckage with substantial holes in it, almost as it were caused by fangs. Will the Doctor solve this crisis? Is Sarah and Harry in danger? What of the secret of the Yeti? Does the Doctor know the Muffin Man?

A few bits of interest on our serial now. Over 8.5 million viewers enjoyed this serial on its original transmission. This is the first appearance of the Zygons and aside from Big Finish Audio, several novels and radio dramas, the shape-shifters are not seen for 38 years in Doctor Who's show until the 50^th Anniversary Special, The Day of the Doctor. Working titles for this particular serial were: The Secret of the Loch, The Secret of Loch Ness, The Loch Ness and the Zygons and Loch Ness.

At least you are not wearing a dickie bow or sand shoes.

Favourite Fours: Genesis of the Daleks

Good day to you one and all and welcome to Day 1 of Favourite Fours. This time around the Doctor (Tom Baker), Sarah Jane Smith and chief medical officer for U.N.I.T. Harry Sullivan are just leaving Nerva space station when their transmat beam is interrupted by the Timelords (the Doctor's species) and sent back in time with a time ring to Skaros, a war torn planet that is on the verge of creating the most genocidal creatures in existence. This is Genesis of the Daleks.

So a rock quarry is not an ideal picnic spot.  My apologies.

Finding the surface of the planet almost completely laid to wast between biological, chemical and even nuclear warfare, the lands seem desolate when a poison gas attack hits the Doctor and companions. The Doctor and Harry (Ian Marter of The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Doctor Who, North & South, Crown Court, Fell Tiger and The Return of Sherlock Holmes) are dragged in to the dome inhabited by the technologically superior Kelads while Sarah is befriended by the Mutos, a species of mutants descended from previous chemical weapons during the early years of the war. No sooner does Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen of Gulliver in Lilliput, Doctor Who, Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time, Peak Practice and The Sarah Jane Adventures) feel safe, she and the Mutos are captured to be slave labor for the Thals (other warring nation on Skaro).

The Doctor and Harry have to empty their pockets for a security check losing the Doctor's sonic screwdriver as well as the time ring, the only device to bring them back to the TARDIS. The Doctor attempts to explain they are aliens and not spies when they are brought before the Kelads greatest scientific mind Davros.

Fine, yes I dressed quickly in the dark... Are you happy now?

For even the most causal observer, it is blatantly obvious that Davros is both brilliant and completely crackers as he unveils his Mark III travel machine that looks identically to a Dalek. With a finite amount of scientists in the dome, they no longer trust Davros, given his monstrous creations having no conscience or mercy at all deciding to revolt against him.

The Doctor attempts to reason with Davros, maybe show him the error to his genocidal ways but it seems to no avail. The Doctor must stop this nightmarish war, find Sarah and recover the time ring to get back to the TARDIS.

A few points of interest on the episodes now. The basis of the fascist regime of the Nazi party is the building block for the Kelads as the Daleks would be the ultimate ubermench... on little wheels.... defenseless to stairs.

This six part weekly show had been viewed by 8 to 10 million viewers. This is also the first appearance of Davros and certainly not the last. The working title for this serial was Daleks- Genesis of Terror. For you fans of all that is Who, this would be the first domino to create the Last Great Time War. In a 2006 interview, Tom Baker named Genesis of the Daleks as one of his favorite Doctor Who serials.

Exsanguinate!!! Crap... LINE!!!

Favourite Fours

Back again oh readers of this drek. Well you were warned many times over. This week I thought we would touch base with a certain time and space traveler and no this is not a transparent attempt to get more readers by enlisting Whovians around the globe. That in mind, I wish to share some of my favorite episodes involving Tom Baker (4^th Doctor for those that... I guess avoid all forms of media archiving) and his pantheon of companions.

NONE SHALL PASS!!!

Ranging from adventures with journalist Sarah Jane Smith to packing the TARDIS jam full of two extra-terrestrials and an Australian air hostess, Baker is one of the most beloved by children and adults alike. With Big Finish audio dramas under his belt, it is almost as his voice has not aged with him at all. Just hearing him narrate his first Doctor Who episode Robot filled me with am overwhelming sense of joy.

We shall see if your favorite fourth Doctor episodes and mine match up with this week with Favourite Fours!

Personally I liked this look.

Happy Easter to all!!!

Howdy folks. RottenReelzReviews here just offer yet another helping of Easter in the hopes that we all enjoy our weekend. A few updates thus far is there are podcasts in the works. Rotten Ramblin' On is delayed due to technical complications and scheduling. We will try our best to get them underway as well as another collusion with another fellow podcaster.  More details on that later on.

That being said, I would love some opinions, ideas and comments on what you would like to read in the future. Feel free give out a few thoughts, some concepts and suggestions.  Maybe a better taste of film.  More Film Noir.  Perhaps a collection of foreign films.   Whatever you can come up with to improve the working process of making this more entertaining.

Wishing you all a Happy Easter to you all and have the weekend!!!

Misleading Titles Week: Total Recall 2 a.k.a. Minority Report

A fine greetings to you all still reading this blog and on to Day 4 of Misleading Titles Week. Today's cinematic creation would be construed as an "A" List film due to its director, budget and big names attached to it. However, even with an surefire hit can come lost in translation, a foreign production distribution confused on the film or multiple working titles can be drafted on the script itself waiting to acquire the rights to existing intelligent property. The film today is based loosely on the short story written by the late Science Fiction author Phillip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep, Total Recall, Paycheck, Screamers and A Scanner Darkly) directed by Steven Spielberg (Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, The Color Purple, Jurassic Park and Schindler's List) so how could there be confusion? This is Total Recall 2 a.k.a. Second Sight a.k.a. Minority Report

Yes these close-ups are necessary. DO NOT QUESTION IT!

The year is 2054 and Washington D.C. Is virtually crime free thanks to the combined efforts of a squad of specialized police known as "PreCrime", an experimental police force that utilizes three precognitive psychics to capture potential crime of murders. Their visions of the future are recorded to determine who, what and why before it comes to light and the crime is stopped before it ever starts. While a blessing in theory to stop the loss of life before it happens, the argument becomes how can you violate laws and rights of citizens that have not committed a crime. Chief Judge Anderton (Tom Cruise of Top Gun, A Few Good Men, Mission: Impossible, Jerry Maguire and Jack Reacher) stands by this program as a necessity to avoid the pain and loss of others as murder is an unnatural death. Anderton while a respected officer of the law has been secretly taking illegal drugs since the disappearance of his son to numb the pain and eventually be divorced by his wife Lara (Kathryn Morris of A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Cold Case, Paycheck, The Sweeter Side of Life and The Coin).

Sheesh, he's surfing torture porn again.

Before the program is officially signed off on and made nation-wide, U.S. Department of Justice Danny Witwer (Colin Farrell of American Outlaws, Phone Booth, The Recruit, S.W.A.T. , Alexander, Horrible Bosses and Fright Night) demands with accordance with the law, a full shakedown of this system. The concern of any bugs in the program need to be cleared. During the review the precogs predict a murder of one Leo Crow within 36 hours and his killer will be Anderton? Anderton not having a clue who Crow is and believing that Witwer tampered with the precogs hightails it out of the building with Witwer demanding a manhunt after Anderton.

On the run and with security having its citizens retinal scans to confirm their whereabouts in the city, city official buildings and even apartment entry codes, Anderton goes underground, off the grid and even has a horrible black market operation to get replacement eyes allowing him to roam freely, giving him time to see if PreCrime is flawed as it appears to be. With his own team in hot pursuit of his springy, well-toned ass it is only matter of time for them to bump into each other. Will Anderton be able to reason with Washington? Is PreCrime a bust? Will there be couch leaping involved?

Okay, silliness aside I did want to point out a few things on the film. This sci-fi whodunnit film was originally supposed to be a sequel to Total Recall that writers Ronald Shusett and Gary Goldman took from the original story. With Speilberg and Cruise involved in two separate projects the script fell on the shelves and was up for a re-write John Cohen drafted as they did not feel Total Recall was the way to go. Taking away with the original setting in Mars and explaining psychics were created by the harsh environment and cheap domes had to be replaced with a simple mutation in the gene pool story arc.

With fine tuning and the use of this same named short story Minority Report, Speilberg approached scientists ranging from bio-medical research, car engineers, architects, virtual reality techs to create a city of the future in practical effects as well as CGI.

Spielberg's trusted cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can and War of the Worlds) bleached the film's negative in post-production to create that weird desaturated colors scheme almost giving it a film noir feel not dissimilar to Ridley Scott's Bladerunner. With a complex story, decent action and pretty impressive performances it was no wonder it was up for as many awards for the Oscars.

Is it me or is this TRON in traffic jam?

Misleading Titles Week: Masters of the Universe 2: Cyborg

We are back with Day 3 of Misleading Titles Week and boy this one was a doozy. Initially the story goes this film was made after a failed attempt at a Spider-Man movie and then a continuation of Golan-Globus' Masters of the Universe. The production company of Golan-Globus (New Year's Evil, Death Wish II, Missing in Action, Lifeforce, King Solomon's Mines, Under Cover and Speedway Junky) bringing us a misleading title of Masters of the Universe 2. If you have satelite or digital cable and this particular movie comes on the working title or USA TV title if you will. This is Cyborg a.k.a. Slinger a.k.a. Masters of the Universe 2 a.k.a. Cyborg 009 and Masters of the Universe 2: Cyborg.

I can take Sly!  

Our director Albert Pyun (The Sword and the Sorcerer, Alien from L.A., Journey to the Center of the Earth, Captain America [1991 version], Nemesis, Brain Smasher... A Love Story, Spitfire and Omega Doom) has a hit or miss with a modest budget from films brings us a tale of post-apocalypse due to a virus cripples the planet. A gathering of scientists and doctors in Atlanta have to journey to New York City to acquire the remaining piece of the research creating a cure to this plague. Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon of Paperback Hero, The Last Romantic Lover, North Dallas Forty, Bedroom Eyes, Unbecoming Age and Fiesta) volunteers to be augmented into a cyborg to hold the information.

The Jets conquered the Sharks!!

Her bodyguard Marshall Strat (Alex Daniels of T.J. Hooker, Starman, Werewolf, Batman & Robin, Star Kid and Holes) does his level best but is jumped by a gang of marauders led by Fender (Vincent Klyn of Cyborg, Point Break, Bloodmatch, Nemesis, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., Double Dragon, Ballistic, Night Hunter, Prey of the Jaguar and Baywatch), a terrifyingly built man of 6 foot 2 and roughly about 250 lbs of muscle turns Marshall into a pretzel, manages to fight the thugs off and escape with Pearl. Dying off, Marshall tells Pearl to hire a slinger (mercenary) to finish her mission back to Atlanta. Encountering Gibson Rickenbacker (Jean Claude Van Damme of Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Double Impact, Universal Soldier, Time Cop and Street Fighter), gruff merc with a heart of gold he joins with Pearl to Atlanta. So anyone else getting the writer had a thing for musical instruments and brands?? Fender? Gibson? Marshall? Yeah maybe he was a failed guitarist. Can Gibson safely bring Pearl back to Atlanta while avoiding the raiders and gangs?? Will they save humanity or will it just be dust in the wind?

A little trivia on the film now. This theatrical and VHS release was heavily edited to avoid an X rating due to the gore. At one point in the warehouse fight fight Van Damme is fighting a guy and he just seems to teleport or blip away in the next second, which would be a great effect if exploited but no. Lazy editing and continuity is confusing. Cannon Films snagged Van Damme instead of Chuck Norris because his costs would not be as high as Van Damme was relatively unknown at the time. This was the last official theater release film from Cannon Films after they went bankrupt in 1987 and lots of direct to video afterwards.

Several of the costumes are recycled from Masters of the Universe. Most of Fender's outfit is from Blade in Masters of the Universe. Hope they cleaned the chainmail. The original script was to be a sequel of Masters of the Universe in which He-Man returns to Earth to see the Earth has been left a wasteland destroyed and conquered by Skeletor. WHY THE HELL DIDN'T WE GET THAT FLICK??!!!! Not a bad set of action scenes but the story drags... a lot...

Do you have soap in Atlanta?

Misleading Title Week: Jaws 5 a.k.a. Cruel Jaws

Welcome one and all to Day 2 of Misleading Titles Week. Sad to say we are back in the hands of Italian designer impostor director/writer Bruno Mattei (Women's Prision Massacre, Rats: Night of Terror, Strike Commando, Robowar, Zombi 3, Strike Commando 2, Shocking Dark and Born to Fight). Many of you that have read earlier weeks know I covered a few of his films that lift material, whole story lines or just music from more successful films. What say we take in a creature feature? A nefarious government conspiracy of a tiger shark genetically altered by the United States Navy to be a ruthless killing machine is now loose attacking the good citizens of Hampton Bay. This is Cruel Jaws a.k.a. Jaws 5 a.k.a. The Beast a.k.a. Jaws 5: Cruel Jaws.

Yes, I am a guy in a rubber suit. What of it??

With the coastal town of the fictitious town of Hampton Bay start losing vacationers left and right the wimpy Matt Hooper archetype Billy(Gregg Hood of Miami Models, Cruel Jaws and Spoken Mirrors) tells the mayor they have to close the beaches in spite of needing the tourists' dollars. Say... this sounds familiar doesn't it? Yeah, like a Peter Benchley novel perhaps. Sheriff Francis (David Luther of Only the Strong and Cruel Jaws) bypass getting a Quint and proceeds to try and close the beaches regardless what the mayor may think.

White Urkel.

The story keeps arching back to Dag (Richard Dew of Cruel Jaws, Assault on Devil's Island and Assault on Death Mountain) owner and operator of a Sea World knock-off (that has two whole dolphins and a seal)when he isn't out standing in for Hulk Hogan. Yeah this guy is a dead ringer. It is tiring work but not as much as it is to see his little girl Susy (Kirsten Urso of Cruel Jaws) to smile... and somehow fix her crippled legs. Yes, we have a heart choker handicapped character added to the alumni. Dag is up to his eyeballs in debt as he owes the landlord Lewis (George Barnes Jr. Of Extralarge: Black Magic, South Beach, Cruel Jaws, and DV8) fifteen years back rent. Meanwhile I get a note from my manager if I am three days late with my apartment's rent. Moving on, with the shark denier Mayor Godfrey makes his concerns known to shady landlord Lewis who scoffs at the mere possibility of the slightest notion of such a creature in warm waters as poppycock. Will the shark devour everyone in sight? Will Dag join with Billy and the Sheriff as their honorary Quint? Will they in fact "Need a bigger boat?"

A few nitpicks at this time. None of the stock footage lifted from Jaws and Jaws 2 meshes with the existing footage for a proper splice. Some of the footage is at night with the day shots of his actors and vice versa. I think Mattei may have also ripped off a rip-off of Jaws. Yeah not even The Last Shark with Vic Morrow and James Franciscus was safe from Bruno's fingers.

I was have expecting Devilfish and Up From the Depths to make an appearance with the stock footage. The goofs in this movie are to die for. Continuity went out the window along with integrity and originality. The size of the shark is constantly shifting from the Tiger shark it's supposed to be to a 35 foot Great White. The helicopter gets attacked by the shark when the pilot lets go of the throttle to point at the massive Great White (AGAIN) which would have made the copter crash or at the very least drop in the water. Our actors don't even have a fiberglass or rubber shark to shoot rifles and shotguns at. Of course, a Remington 12 gauge is a GUN FROM THE FUTURE according to Aliens 2 a.k.a. Shocking Dark so that may be too much to ask for. 

 Between lifting and speed up John Williams tempo theme of Jaws and the atrocious dialogue you will be in stitches as this would be an excellent movie for mocking at home. If you want danger, suspense and blood in the water... Go watch Jaws.

Quite a hardy handshake you got there, tiny dorkmeister.