Fun & Full of FANcy

You’ve probably thought this fan posts were over, but nope I just ran into a few problems. First the internet would not work for me, at all. It kept coming off and forcing me to type in my password every five minutes.

The week after that I decided to do a post on one of my main men, Clint Eastwood. Check out Classic Clint. The weeks after that I ran into some problems and was also unable to do it, instead doing my post A Cautionary Tale. Last Sunday was Father’s Day, so I decided to do a post on that as well, Dear Dad.

But that’s all behind me and there are plenty more things that I was obsessed with: past, present, & future; to share. So stay tuned!

Dragon Ball

My sister loved this show and had to watch it every day after school. Because of her I got really into this show and have to say I loved it, but when I write a synopsis of it, it might not make a whole lot of sense.

This is actually a series based on the classic novel Journey to the West,  also known as Monkey, written in the 16th century by Wu Cheng’en.

Goku is a little monkey boy, as in he only has a tail. He befiends a teenage woman, Bulma, and the two set off to find the seven wishing dragon balls. He becomes a student of the turtle hermit, Kame-Sennin, later entering a huge tournament with some of the most powerful fighters in the world.

He also destroys the Red Ribbon Army single-handedly. When Goku’s best friend, Kuririn, is murdered by Piccolo, then Goku sets out to destroy him as revenge.

He also meets a young girl, Chi-Chi, who loves him and gets him to agree to marriage.

It was a great and entertaining series with a lot of fun. I recommend checking it out if you have never seen it before. Just be sure to stay away from the awful live action film.

Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Z is the sequel to Dragon Ball. In this Goku is an adult with his son Gohan and Goten. Like Dragon Ball, it is fun to watch, but when writing a synopsis it does sound a bit strange. But, believe me, it is worth viewing.

So Goku is approached by a humoinoid alien, Raditz. He reveals to Goku that he is his long-lost brother and a Saiyan. He was sent as an infant to takeover the world, but suffered from a head injury that made him lose his memory and blood thirsty nature. Goku refuses, and Raditz kidnaps Gohan.

Goku and Piccolo team up to destroy Raditz, with Goku sacrificing himself to save everyone else. In the after life he is trained by King Kai until he is brought back to life with the dragon balls. He fights against Raditz’s companions, Vegeta and Nappa, reaching the levels of extreme power, a Super Saiyan.

 

As Gohan ages, he helps in the battle too.

Later Goku encounters Trunks, the future son of Vegeta (when he has become good) and Bulma. He shows flashforwards to an adult Gohan (and a super butt-kicking one!)

It is a great show, check it out.

Full House

Most people know exactly what this is without me having to say anything. But for those who don’t, Full House was a family friendly TV show. In it, Danny Tanner’s (Bob Saget) wife is killed in a car crash, leaving him a widower with three girls, D.J. (Candance Cameron), Stephanie, and Michelle (played by both Olsen twins). Finding himself at a loss he asks his best friend Joey, a comedian; and brother-in-law, Jesse (John Stamos), Elvis-loving rock musician, to move in and help him out.

The show was a mix between comedy, drama, and the facts of growing up.

Now the reason I watched was for Uncle Jesse.

Love that man!

For more Full House, go to Concentrated Awesome

Philions

So some of you may remember me talking about a series of youtube videos down Dan Howell, Danisnotonfire. In that series we have a cute British guy just talking about his everyday life and awkward/funny situations he gets himself into. Well, it turns out as I watched his videos that his best friend and roommate Phil also does videos!

Yep, I decided to check him out and he is just as attractive and hilarious. Phil Lester, or the Amazing Phil, also has a slight vulnerable quality about him that instantly draws you in and makes you want to give him a huge hug. Us followers are called philions, and if you haven’t joined this fandom you need to check it out.

Phil you’re worth more to me than just two days! And I’d date you in a heartbeat. 🙂

Pokemon

 

Pokemon, I remember it fondly. And I’m not talking about today’s crazy mix of colors and things. I’m talking about the original Pokemon. The TV show.

Yeah I was never into the games and really never understood how to “fight” with the cards. For me it was all about the show, another one I was introduced to because my sister was super into it.

In the original show we had Ash Ketchum who is given the pokemon Pikachu, and sets off to find and try to collect every pokemon that exists. He also tries for every badge he can get so that he can compete in the final pokemon battle. It was an awesome show with awesome characters, more on them in a minute. First we had the intro, unbelievably cool.

Then we had Ash the lovable teen. My favorite character was Brock, a guy he meets that wants to open up his own gym, and joins in on Ash’s quest. Brock was hilarious as he was always falling in love.

And Misty who was super annoying.

Then there was team Rocket, a group of people who were always trying to steal Pokemon for their master, and horribly failing.

A great, great show.

For the previous post, go to Fantom of the Opera

Stay tuned for part 15

 

 

A Hidden Wonder

Day 5) An Underrated Movie

The Black Cauldron is highly underrated as it has a bunch of great characters and scenes. I know I talked about it during my first Horrorfest.

So I actually never saw this film as a kid. My mother thought it would scare me. It would come on TV and I remember it coming out of the vault and being on all kinds of commercials. I even had a toy Gurgi that I got in a McDonald’s happy meal.

So how did I finally stumble onto this work? Well, I really like the author Lloyd Alexander, as I have read his book Time Cat. Two years ago, I decided that I would read through the The Chronicles of Prydain series as it is his most famous work and what The Black Cauldron is a part of. The book series was really good except I wish the Horned King was in more of it and as the series wraps itself up, the last books are not as nearly good as the first ones. Anyways, so after I had read the series I checked out the film and of course did the I’m No Warrior, I’m an Assistant Pig-Keeper post. But in that post I compared the film and the book as I had just finished reading the series.

So the film The Black Cauldron is a compilation of the first two books in the series; The Book of Three and The Black Cauldron. And I thought it was pretty good. I mean some parts were film corny, but I really liked it. In fact, I am appalled that more people have never heard of it or seen it. It really deserves more love.

“Legend has it, in the mystic land of Prydain, there was once a king so cruel and so evil, that even the Gods feared him. Since no prison could hold him, he was thrown alive into a crucible of molten iron. There his demonic spirit was captured in the form of a great, black cauldron. For uncounted centuries, the black cauldron lay hidden, waiting, while evil men searched for it, knowing whoever possessed it would have the power to resurrect an army of deathless warriors… and with them, rule the world.”

So the film is about Taran, an assistant pig-keeper, who dreams of becoming a great warrior. He finds out that the pig her cares for, Hen Wen, is in danger as she is an oracular  pig and that the evil Horned King is after her. The Horned King needs her to find the Black Cauldron to bring to life the dead, creating a zombie army.

An actual army of the undead. That is much more creepy than this guy.

Taran accidentally allows Hen Wen to be captured and travels after her, saving and getting the creature Gurgi as a follower. He comes to the Horned King’s castle and there he finds a captured princess, Princess Eilonwy, a ministrel named Fflewddur Fflam, and a magic sword. The journey on to destroy the Black Cauldron, meeting up with fairies, witches, and battle the Horned King.

It’s funny, but now that I think about it, this film in a lot of ways reminds me of Star Wars.

Now it has a lot of great characters.

First we have Taran, a young boy who dreams of achieving something greater. Think Luke Skywalker, eager to leave what he feels is an inadequate existence. He wants more, he wants to fight the Dark Sith Lo…I mean Horned King.  At times he is a bit silly, as every young boy who is trying to find his way is, but in all he’s a great character. You just love him.

Then we have Eilonwy. Now people always forget this princess, but she rocks.

She tooootally kicks butt. She is like the animated version of Princess Leia. She has been caught by the evil Horned King, but isn’t waiting around, she’s trying to get out of there. She never let’s anyone push her around because of her size or gender:

“Taran: What does a girl know about swords, anyway?

Eilonwy: “Girl”? “Girl”? If it wasn’t for this *girl*, you would still be in the Horned King’s dungeon.”

And this film has one of the all-time creepiest villains ever! The Horned King!

Oh man, he is a creep. Horrifying and Incredibly Horrible.

This is a great film, you should totally watch it!

Check out the trailer!

So since this film reminded me of Star Wars so much I decided to give it something a little extra.

Hope you liked it! Stay tuned for more Disney stuff.

For more on The Black Cauldron, go to I’m No Warrior, I’m an Assistant Pig-Keeper

And to see more posts on Star Wars, go to True Princess

For more on Disney Princesses, go to Belle of the Ball

For more on Disney Heros, go to Prince of a Man

For more on Disney, go to The Cat’s Meow

For more on Time Cat, go to Pot o’ Gold

For more films based on books, go to A Letter of Love

For more on Horrorfest check out Horrorfest and Horrorfest II

 

I Want Friend Like Me: The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

“You, make man… like me? No. Woman… friend for you.  Woman… Friend… Wife.”

So this is the sequel to Frankenstein  and I think a much better film.

Yes Mickey you were right

I know I say I don’t like sequels as much as the original, but there are always a few that I think are better.

So this movie almost wasn’t created as director James Whale originally did not want to do a sequel to Frankenstein. Universal considered producing a sequel without Whale’s involvement, but after 4 years of constant badgering, Whale agreed to do the film. And I’m so happy he did, or else we would be without this wonderful masterpiece.

To be honest, this isn’t a true “sequel.” It actually is the second half of the the book Frankenstein, instead of an individual and separate story.

The reason I like this better than the first one is that Frankenstein is creepier, as he is demanding and using his strength and stature to frighten others.

You also have a creepier Henry, as he is fighting with himself on whether or not to create more monsters. We see that he doesn’t wish to populate the world with these creatures-but at the same time he is lured by the thrill of creating more, and showing off his genius.

Henry Frankenstein: Crazy, am I? We’ll see whether I’m crazy or not.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

So the film starts off  a little different from the other one. Here we have Elsa Lanchester portraying Mary Shelley and telling the next chapter of the story at a party.

Let me tell you a story

The next chapter picks up exactly where the other film ended.

Grab your torches and sharpen your pitchforks!

The villagers had driven the monster to the windmill and believed they killed him. They take Henry back home where he is nursed to health by his fiancé Elizabeth.

However, we see that the creature has not been killed. He escaped the fire by getting into the water under the mill. He kills some people as he escapes into the wilderness.

Meanwhile, Henry’s old mentor,  Doctor Septimus Pretorius, comes to visit him. He brings along his creations to show Henry. Dr. Pretorius had created miniature people: a miniature queen, king, archbishop, devil, ballerina and mermaid. While Henry had vowed to never create another monster again, seeing these creatures spikes his interest.

Meanwhile, the monster has run off into the woods and has tried to find a place to belong. He attempts to befriend a shepherdess and a group of gypsies, but both reject him.

He finally runs into a hermit and has a tender scene with the two becoming “fast friends”.

I love this scene and sometimes say things like “Friend good, such and such bad”, etc in my daily life! 😀 It’s a pretty touching scene. After all:

But even this does not last forever as searchers looking for the monster, come upon the two and chase the creature away. He eventually comes upon Dr. Pretorius who promises him “friendship” and that he will create a mate for him.

“The Monster: You, make man… like me?
Dr. Pretorius: No. Woman… friend for you
The Monster: Woman… Friend… Wife…”

Dr. Pretorius approaches the newly married Frankensteins and tries to get Henry to help him create a mate for the monster. Henry, having once again realized the horror of his past creation, in no way will ever create another creature. That’s all fine and good, but Dr. Pretorius doesn’t agree. He wants a mate and is determined to force Henry to create one. He gets the creature to kidnap Elizabeth, her being the exact leverage to force Henry to create another monster.

The Monster: I *love* dead… hate living.

Henry seeing that he has no alternative, prepares to create a women from the dead. We see as Henry struggles with his morals, creating a better tension than in the first film. As I stated earlier, he doesn’t want to create another creature as he knows the horrors the other committed along with the fact that the two might mate and reproduce, populating the world with living dead.

But Henry is excited at the same time. Once again he can use his theories and science to create. He will be able to say he “created” life, not once but twice! This is hard for him to turn away from.

Of course nothing goes perfectly according to plan. Henry creates the woman, but can he control it?

Elsa Lanchaster is amazing! I love the way she turns about, almost birdlike. She actually based her performance on swans; saying that, “they’re really very nasty creatures”. She was only 5’4″ but for the role they placed her on stilts so she was  7′ tall. The bandages were placed so tightly on her that she was unable to move and had to be carried about the studio, much like Olivia Newton-John in Grease. Her hair and outfit are amazing, and now such a classic figure in horror film history, just like her predecessor the Monster. Her amazing ‘do was held in place by a wired horsehair cage.

They introduce her to her “mate”, but when has any woman liked it when people pick out their mates?

The monster is furious at this rejection and destroys the lab killing all who are in it. The only people who escape are Elizabeth and Henry. Frankenstein realized what they had and allowed them to leave unharmed.

“The Monster: [Speaking to Frankenstein and Elizabeth] Go you live… [turning to Dr.Pretorius] You stay we belong dead.”

It’s a great movie. I highly recommend it to anyone into the classic horror films.

That’s todays fearsome post! More to come! Only 7 days left ’till Halloween! Who’s excited?

Here’s poster I made for my cover page on facebook in honor of Halloween. Hope ya love it.

To start Horrorfest from the beginning, go to I Don’t Belong in the World

For the previous post, go to Someone Very Special

For more on the Bride of Frankenstein, go to A Monster Race

For more on Frankenstein, go to It’s Alive, It’s ALIVE!

For more classic horror films, go to I Bid You Welcome

For more monster movies, go to Grimwood Ghouls’ Gym Teacher

For more films based on books, go to Quite a Horror Story

For more sequels, go to Just Follow the Screams

For more on Frank Peretti, go to Part IX: Adventures in Movie Lines

For more of my fav quotes, go to I’m No Warrior, I’m an Assistant Pig-Keeper