DVD Review: The Thing from Another World (1951)

The Thing from Another World (1951)

(Released: 2003 by Warner Home Video)
Another looong DVD Review by Joe Torcivia

“A few minutes from now, we may have the KEY to the STARS! A million years of history are waiting for us in that ice!”

Admit it! Don’t you just LOVE talk like that!

In a nutshell, scientists at the North Polar Region discover a flying saucer has just crashed and embedded itself under the polar ice. A handful of military men fly out to aid in the investigation. A dangerous creature emerges that feeds on blood, is ready to multiply… and is a cross between Marshall Matt Dillon of GUNSMOKE and “Tybo the Carrot-Man” from LOST IN SPACE!

…Yes, really!

Less than five years before becoming a television legend, as GUNSMOKE’S Marshall Dillon, actor James Arness played “The Thing from Another World”. Funny thing is, certainly from today’s perspective – if not from 1951’s as well – Arness (as the “Thing”) was the “biggest star” in the film. The DVD packaging certainly plays him up that way.

Though there are some interesting actors in some of the smaller parts, my decidedly unofficial observation is that ‘50s Sci-Fi films needed no stars – just a good premise, a good monster, or both. (…And, honestly, some of them had NEITHER!)

Consider “Destination Moon” (1951) as an example of “Good Premise”, and "Them!" (1954) as an example of “Good Monster(s)”. No real STARS in either one, save maybe James Whitmore. Indeed, I daresay Woody Woodpecker is probably the biggest name in “Destination Moon”!

Famed animation voice actor Paul Frees (in a rare, on-camera role) and “Voice of DRAGNET and YOU BET YOUR LIFE” George Fenniman can be found as minor members of the scientific team.

And, even as the “Carrot Monster”, Arness gets scant screen time. His first action is committed at 40:06. He is initially seen at a distance at 42:09. It is not until 57:33, of the 1:26:37 film, that we get our first real look at him.

Nevertheless, “The Thing from Another World” is just chock-full of ‘50s Sci-Fi goodness! Consider some of these lines:

“It sounds like…well, just as though you’re describing some form of super carrot!”

“This ‘carrot’, as you call it, has constructed an aircraft capable of flying some millions of miles through space – propelled by a force as yet unknown to us!”

“An intellectual CARROT! The mind boggles!”

“On the planet from which our visitor came, vegetable life underwent an evolution similar to that of our own animal life, which would account for the superiority of its brain!”

‘50s Sci-Fi! How do you not love it!

As is our custom in these reviews, we’ll break it into CONS and PROS.

The CONS:

An Absolute Lack of Extra Features: “The Thing”, itself, was not the ONLY shocker to be found herein. As a DVD package, “The Thing from Another World” might as well be from “The Warner Archive Collection”. (See THIS REVIEW of a film released as part of TWAC for more details on what those releases lack.)

My standard for a movie DVD’s Extra Features is the inclusion of a theatrical trailer for the film, a commentary track, and “making-of” or background featurette. Neither a commentary track nor a featurette is included with “The Thing from Another World” giving it a major CON, in this area.

Given the future stardom of James Arness, not to mention the later achievements of Paul Frees and George Fenniman, and the INFLUENCES this film will have on Sci-Fi productions more than a decade hence, the lack of such features to discuss these aspects of “The Thing from Another World” is regrettable indeed.

I’d like to make the standard excuse that its 2003 release was a bit “early in the game” for the generally-held standards for a DVD production but, actually, 2003 was NOT all that early in the history of the DVD package. By that time, more should have been offered.

The PROS:

It’s ‘50s Sci-Fi: That means you’re in for a wild ride (often – but not always – in Black and White), with stalwart heroes facing down monsters, aliens, bizarre mutations, and any other strange phenomena the screenwriters could come up with. The general feeling is not unlike that freewheeling Sci-Fi / Adventure period for television during the early to mid-sixties. The rules, such as they were, were being made up before your eyes – and what a glorious sight it was.

Though 1939’s “King Kong” was a notable exception, films of this nature were very few and far between – if they existed at all – in the years prior. But, they came fast and furious in the fifties. And, the beauty of it was that sometimes you got Michael Rennie, delivering a crucial warning in “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, and sometimes you got James Arness as a bloodthirsty carrot in “The Thing from Another World”! It was all fine by me!

Influences on Future Productions: Just sit back and count them! Some quite direct, some less so.

The most direct example of the influence of “The Thing from Another World” on a future television production was the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA episode “The Heat Monster” (Airdate: 01/15/1967).

The nature of the respective "creatures" differed (An alien "vegetable" vs. a sentient "flame-creature"), but EVERYTHING else was the same. A deadly creature frozen in polar ice, and the conflict of pragmatic military vs. obsessed scientists / stalwart Seaview crew vs. Alfred Ryder’s insanely single-minded guest-scientist Dr. Bergstrom  (WARNING:  This link is to a YouTube video with SOUND!  You should know this, if you are reading this Blog at work!) on how to handle the situation – to the point of reckless endangerment and total destruction.

This is summed up by a quote from Dr. Carrington (the lead scientist of the film):

“I’m sure we can COMMUNICATE with it! We must! It’s WISER than we are! It’s our only chance to talk to it! To learn so many things!”

And, equally summed up by VOYAGE’S “Dr. Bergstrom” as follows:

“I still say that whatever is on board this ship is not belligerent, and came to me of its own free will! Give it a chance! We have the opportunity to LEARN THINGS man has NEVER KNOWN before! The TRUE MEANING of the stars! Contact with intelligence from deepest space! Who knows what else we may learn! I WILL NOT LET YOU KILL IT! I’ve given ten years of my life…”

Well, you can see where BOTH of these are going…

Each creature rampages against its respective cast, with fatal results, until it is finally destroyed. The Thing with electrocution, the Flame with liquid oxygen.

The one key element of "The Thing from Another World" that didn't appear in the Voyage episode was the creature being defrosted from a block of ice by an unfortunately placed electric blanket. Not one to waste a good swipe, producer Irwin Allen found a place for THAT ONE in the LOST IN SPACE episode "Castles in Space" (also 1967).

The LITERAL translation of The Thing as a living “carrot creature” also manifested in LOST IN SPACE as the infamous episode "The Great Vegetable Rebellion" (1968). I must confess that, even in a 1950s style monster suit, James Arness was quite a bit scarier than Stanley Adams, with his human head poking out of a man-sized carrot costume.

The unnerving sight of a literal garden horde of lethal plants (that, in this case, would ALL grow to become clones of James Arness) would become a relatively common sight in future TV productions.

• THE OUTER LIMITS: “Specimen: Unknown”. (1964)

• LOST IN SPACE: “Welcome Stranger”. (1965)

• LOST IN SPACE: “Attack of the Monster Plants”. (1965)

• LOST IN SPACE: “The Space Croppers”. (1966)

• VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA: “The Plant Man” (1966)

• STAR TREK: “This Side of Paradise” (1966)

• VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA: “Terror” (1967)

And, doubtless, more than presently come to mind.

In another form of “influence”, the film’s director, Christian Nyby, became quite prolific in television as well, with credits on Perry Mason, The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, The F.B.I., Bonanza, I Spy, Daniel Boone, Mayberry R.F.D. Emergency, The Six Million Dollar Man, Kojak, Adam-12, and too many more to list!

And, in one of those great “cosmic workings” Christian Nyby even directed 4 episodes of Gunsmoke!

The Film: A textbook example of the ‘50s Sci-Fi genre, up to and including a relatively no-name cast…

The Cast:

• James Arness as “The Thing”.

• Kenneth Tobey as “Captain Patrick Hendry”.

• Douglas Spencer as “Ned ‘Scotty’ Scott (Reporter)”.

• Robert Cornthwaite as “Dr. Arthur Carrington”.

• Paul Frees as “Dr. Voorhees” (Uncredited)

• George Fenniman as “Dr. Redding”. (Uncredited)

The Extra Feature (Singular): Theatrical Trailer for “The Thing from Another World”: (01:34)

VOICEOVER: “Is it HUMAN or INHUMAN? EARTHLY or UNEARTHLY?”

“Baffling questions… Astounding questions… that not even the world’s greatest scientific minds can answer!”

HUGE ON-SCREEN TEXT: “FLAMES cannot destroy THE THING… Nor BULLETS kill it!”

“A story of modern science that challenges imagination! Produced by HOWARD HAWKES – who gave you ‘I was a Male War Bride’, ‘Red River’, ‘Sergeant York’!”

GOSH! That’s enough to make me want to see it AGAIN!

Overall:

“The Thing from Another World” stands as a prime specimen of its time and its genre.

Today’s audiences, raised on flicks overloaded with CGI effects and laced with much blood and gore, will not be impressed. Indeed, one might regard the most horrifying aspect of “The Thing from Another World” to be the appalling lack of extra features!

But, just try to deny the existence of any emotional stirrings when listening to Reporter Scotty filing his story. A passage that nicely doubles as a film-ending narration:

“One of the world’s greatest battles was fought and won today by the human race. Here, at the top of the world, a handful of soldiers and civilians, met the first invasion from another planet.

“A man named Noah once saved our world with an ark of wood. Here, at the North Pole, a few men performed a similar service with an arc of electricity. A flying saucer, which landed here, and its pilot have been destroyed. But not without casualties among our own meager forces.

“And now, before giving you the details of the battle, I bring you a warning… Every one of you listening to my voice, tell the world. Tell this to everybody, wherever they are. Watch the skies… EVERYWHERE! Keep looking! Keep watching… the skies!”

As noted, the film is far more influential then it would appear. Oh, if only this one came with a Commentary Track to discuss those influences!

“The Thing from Another World” is recommended for fans of fifties Sci-Fi and the products of the sixties that were clearly influenced by it. Fans of James Arness and Gunsmoke will enjoy it as perhaps the “ultimate curiosity”. Fitting all these categories, I enjoyed it immensely!

R.I.P. Earl Kress!

It is the very sad duty of this Blog to report the death of Earl Kress!

Earl Kress made EVERYTHING he was involved with better! Animation, comics, CD compilations, and especially animation DVDs!

Mark Evanier tells us about Earl Kress HERE!

Yowp does the same HERE!

Pictured above, the TOP CAT DVD set to which he contributed so much!

Thank you for everything, Earl!

New Directions in DVD Reviews!

We have a trio of DVD Reviews coming that cover different genres, other than the “Depression Era Gangster and Crime”, TV series, and Animation DVDs generally discussed on this Blog!

Be here for them… just to see me write about something else for a change!


Hint: They DO vary a bit in subject matter, with the final one bearing some definite surprises! Watching it certainly surprised me!

...Yet, you can easily see how each one would appeal to me!  Be there, won’t you? 

And, just WAIT until you see who the PRODUCER is on that “third one”!  You won’t believe it! 

Donald Duck and Superman Find Common Ground – Off the Ground!

Despite long histories in comic books, Donald Duck and Superman don’t seem to have very much in common.

Superman never found “Pirate Gold” – much less found it “Again!” …Not that X-ray vision wouldn’t come in handy on a treasure hunt!

And, despite treading on 24-Carat Moons, “Black Moons”, and finding giant lovesick teenage girls on Venus, Donald Duck never “Return[ed] to Krypton”.


But, if you get enough issues under your belt (…or whatever might encircle Donald’s pants-less waist), you’re bound to find something.

I found this!

It’s been too tiring a day to think up a gag utilizing the phrase “Long Distance Carrier”, so please contribute your own!

DVD Review: Picture Snatcher (1933)

Picture Snatcher (1933)

(Released: 2008 by Warner Home Video)
Another looong DVD Review by Joe Torcivia

“I’m a picture snatcher! When a millionaire’s wife hides out with a chauffer, I’m the guy who slaps their profiles on the front page. I track down the saps who have good reason to keep their pictures outta the papers. Murderers, embezzlers, crooked politicians… an’ people who pull down the blinds in th’ wrong houses!”

James Cagney does it again as “Danny Kean”, an ex-con, just released from prison, who wangles a job as a photographer for a scandal sheet – by using his moxie and his wits to get a photograph of the people involved in an infidelity incident.

Upon receiving his CAMERA, Cagney quips: “Works just like a GUN! Trigger an’ all!”


GREAT BIT: An exchange between Cagney’s “Danny” and a bespectacled, lanky nerd of a journalism student! Yes, there actually WERE nerds in the 1930s. We just didn’t have a name for ‘em! Our unfortunate student was played by an uncredited Sterling Holloway – later the definitive voice of Disney’s version of Winnie the Pooh! Pooh meets Cagney? How ‘bout that!


STUDENT: “Who, in your opinion, was the most difficult person to approach?”


DANNY: “The Governor.”


STUDENT: (writing on notepad): “The Governor… And what was the subject of the interview?”


DANNY: “I wanted to ask his PARDON.”


STUDENT: “Oh, I see… You owed him an apology.”


DANNY: “Heh-Heh! …Let it go at THAT!”

Over the course of the film, Danny snaps an expressly forbidden picture of an execution – and an action photo of one of his former gangland associates in the midst of a rather brutal police firefight. He also has the expected romantic complications with a police lieutenant’s daughter and the amorous girlfriend of his editor. Oh, that Danny…

“Picture Snatcher” is directed by Lloyd Bacon. Credited as “Dialogue Director” is William Keighley, later the director of such WB classics as “G-Men”, “Bullets or Ballots”, and a large portion of “The Adventures of Robin Hood”.

As with “The Mayor of Hell”, Cagney is superb as a “good bad guy”, employing his… er, “skill set” as a former gangster to his new line as a member of the paparazzi.

I’ve never seen or heard it mentioned before, but a long-time Disney comic book fan like myself cannot help but compare Cagney (in a picture like this – where he is driven, but not overtly "bad") to Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse of the 1930s! They are both scrappy little guys, full of moxie, who not only succeed at – but often revolutionize – their respective endeavors.

Donald Duck comic book legend Carl Barks has admitted to being influenced by that which he saw in the movies. It is certainly not a large leap to assume that, in the ‘30s, Gottfredson was similarly influenced by Cagney in films like this! I’ll bet Mickey could get some pretty nifty newspaper pictures too!

Additional oddities: Being still early in the Warner Bros. cannon, like “The Public Enemy” and “The Mayor of Hell”, it begins with “Warner Bros. Pictures and the Vitaphone Corp. Present:  [ with the WB Shield superimposed over the Vitaphone Pennant].

Also like “The Public Enemy”, every featured character in the film is introduced by a pose, in front of a black background, with both the name of the actor and the character he or she plays prominently displayed. In older films, I often have difficulty in determining “who-is-who” beyond the obvious star performers. This is a nice way to remedy that – and I wish it would have been employed more often.

Actor Robert Emmett O’Connor, as Police Lt. Casey Nolan (The cop who originally jailed Danny.), ironically also played “Paddy Ryan”, the bootlegger who thrust Cagney into a life of violent crime in “The Public Enemy”!




As is our custom in these reviews, we’ll break it into CONS and PROS.


The CONS:


Extra Features: My standard for a movie DVD’s Extra Features is the inclusion of a theatrical trailer for the film, a commentary track, and “making-of” or background featurette. No featurette is included with “Picture Snatcher” giving it a CON, in this area.




The PROS:

The Film: Another triumph for Cagney! I’ve seen enough of these things now to say, unequivocally, that James Cagney was probably the finest all-around entertainer of this age! He is an absolute joy to watch, bringing great energy to everything he does.


The Cast:


• James Cagney as “Danny Kean”.


• Ralph Bellamy as “J.R. Mc Lean”.


• Patricia Ellis as “Pat Nolan”.


• Robert Emmett O’Connor as “Lt. Casey Nolan”.


• Alice White as “Allison”.


• Robert Barrat as “Mr. Grover”.


Menus: Menus are easy to navigate, and are nicely illustrated with colorized images of the film’s main characters. The Main Menu plays a nice, jazzy theme for “Picture Snatcher”. For once in a Warner set, it is not too loud but plays at a perfect volume in relation to the rest.


Extra Features:

Theatrical Trailer for “Picture Snatcher”: (01:03) Still drawings, representative of the film, display over the “jazzy theme” and here comes the Hype:

PULL DOWN YOUR BLINDS! STUFF YOUR KEYHOLES! JIMMY CAGNEY IS COMING IN PICTURE SNATCHER!

THEN, the hype takes the shape of a POEM: (Yes, really!)


He hides in boxes, barrels, and stalls,


He catches lovers in the halls,


And steals their pictures from the walls… PICTURE SNATCHER!




He’ll stop at nothing for a shot,


At something sexy, while it’s hot,


And therein lies the thrilling plot… of PICTURE SNATCHER!




Your sins, to him, are bread and butter,


He’s right behind you, lens and shutter,


He’ll put your picture in the gutter…

THAT’S JIMMY CAGNEY IN THE GREATEST – AND WE MEAN GREATEST – ROLE HE’S EVER HAD… PICTURE SNATCHER!

Oh, how do you not love stuff like this!


Theatrical Trailer for “Escape from Crime”: (01:36) A 1942 film, based on “Picture Snatcher”, starring Richard Travis, Julie Bishop… and Jackie Gleason!


Warner Night at the Movies. Not so long ago, when Warner was the BEST DVD PRODUCER of them all, it offered the outstanding “Warner Night at the Movies” with select DVD packages. I couldn’t be more pleased, when I uncover one of these gems!

Warner expertly recreates the movie-going experience of the day as a viewing option for “Picture Snatcher”. The film may be viewed as part of the entire program, on its own, or the viewer may pick and choose among the included items.

The program consists of:


• Theatrical trailer for “I Loved a Woman”: (02:51) Starring Edward G. Robinson.

“You asked for unusual entertainment…”, this trailer declares, “Here’s a picture that’s really different!”


Edward G. Robinson: “Your father’s selling the public CONDEMNED BEEF! He bribes officials to let him get away with it!”

Oh? So, does that mean he becomes a “beef bootlegger”? I guess that IS “really different”! No need to ask “Where’s the Beef?” Edward G. Robinson’s got it! The hype goes on:

Her love changes a DREAMER… into a TYRANT… with the most TERRIBLE POWER the world has ever known!


Um, really? …Behold the power of Beef!




• Newsreel: (Runs 00:54) From “Hearst Metrotone News”: “Machine Gun Kelly taken in U.S. war on kidnappers – nabbed at Memphis, Tenn., after long hunt”. Kelly is seen walking in handcuffs, flanked by G-Men.


Oddly, Kelly was guilty of kidnapping an oil man! From today’s perspective of obscene oil company profits and job-killing, economy-eviscerating, manipulated high pump prices, would Kelly be seen as something of a “people’s hero”, as once were the bootlegging gangsters of Prohibition?


In context, this newsreel is quite interesting! The newsreel packaged with “The Mayor of Hell” (Also 1933), declares: “U.S. Acts to End Reign of Crime”. Now, we’ve “nabbed” Kelly! And the one packaged with Cagney’s “Lady Killer” (1933 Once Again) tells of the acquisition of Alcatraz Island as prison for criminals – including Machine Gun Kelly! Nice (if unintended) continuity between Newsreels by Warners!


• “Vitaphone Presents: Plane Crazy”: (Runs 19:33) In case you were wondering, this is the version of “Plane Crazy” WITHOUT Mickey Mouse! I’m sure you ALL remember it! Aw, c’mon…. You don’t’ remember this classic starring Dorothy Lee, with Arthur and Morton Havel? It was directed by Roy Mack, fer cryin’ out loud! Really? No?


Well, anyway… We begin at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY. Bumbling and unsuccessful charter flyers “Jack and Bill” don’t “go up a hill”, but instead concoct a phony scheme to fly around the world – and gain notoriety for their business. Perky but dumb lady-friend “Dottie” (…who is indeed rather “dotty”) joins them in their deception.

This is actually quite a funny short, cleverly utilizing stock footage and (in certain spots) humor the likes of which Warner Bros. would apply almost sixty years later in such TV cartoons as Animaniacs and Freakazoid! – combined with good old standard Vaudeville bits. (Come to think of it… Animaniacs and Freakazoid! drew from Vaudeville-style humor when needed, too!)

And, just when it appears to have succeeded beyond my expectations as a comedy vehicle, it abandons its story, moves into – and ends with – a BIG “wedding cake” dance production number! Yes, really!


I REALLY have no idea what to make of this! But, overall, I liked it! Far more than I expected to – so that ain’t bad!


I also wonder if stuff like this was ever on TV… or if it was just consigned to the Warner vaults (or Water Tower, for you Animaniacs fans) until “escaping” onto this DVD!

• “Wake Up the Gypsy in Me”: (Runs 07:25) A Merrie Melodies cartoon by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, with Leon Schlesinger – Producer. Drawn by Isadore (later “Friz”) Freleng and Larry Silverman. The Merrie Melodies opening theme for this one is “Get Happy”.

The WB Shield and Vitaphone Pennant introduce this cartoon, where animated Russian peasants dance and make music. Then, they “give the business-ski” to “Rice-Puddin the Mad Monk”, who has kidnapped a little Gypsy girl.

Oddly, I have NEVER SEEN this cartoon at any point in my life… and I think we can all agree that I’ve watched a lot of cartoons! The little Gypsy Girl pops out at cartoon’s end to say “So long, folks!”

• The film itself: Return with James Cagney and Ralph Bellamy to the days when competing NEWSPAPERS were everyone’s primary source of information – and learn that scandal was big even in the supposed “good old days”. Cagney shows us why he’s one of Warner’s brightest stars in a superb vehicle that rarely pauses to take a breath!




Commentary Track by Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta:


Vance and Maietta offer a lively commentary for the entire 01:17:02 length of the film – exhibiting great enthusiasm and handing-off to one another like a combination of Warner Bros. “Goofy Gophers” and yours truly and my great friend and comics-writing editor David Gerstein, if we were discussing the aforementioned Carl Barks and Floyd Gottfredson.

Er, that’s a COMPLIMENT to the pair, in case you were wondering!

Observations include:


• “Picture Snatcher” was shot in a mere 15 days!


• Cagney was quick with the humorous ad-libs. He reasoned that, despite playing shady characters, no one could hate someone who made them laugh.

• “Picture Snatcher” was a pre-code film, as were “Little Caesar”, “The Public Enemy”, and “Scarface”. But, in view of the changing times, it was an attempt to make a “gangster-type film”, with everything but the “overt gangster-ism” in it.

• Deaths by electrocution (as seen in this film) were both new and mysterious to the public at the time. Thus, the urgency to obtain a photo of the event at all costs. Also, there were 20 deaths in New York’s “Sing-Sing” Prison (where the film’s execution took place) in the previous year – 1932.

• The incidents of the execution (with smuggled photo) and gangster/police firefight were drawn from actual news stories of the time.


• Prohibition would end late in 1933, meaning that it was still in force during both the making and release of “Picture Snatcher”. Given this, a fair amount of the film takes place in speak-easys – and is an accurate reflection of real times. The showing of illegal drinking was a standard in films of the time.


• In the frantic car chase to get Danny’s unscrupulously obtained photo of the execution to his paper, his car LOOSES A TIRE. But, in subsequent scenes of the chase, the tire is BACK ON AGAIN – AND BACK OFF! …Oopsie!


• They conclude: “So, for the most part, electrocutions and gun battles aside, everyone who survives ends up – more or less – happy! And you really couldn’t ask for more from an early 1930s Warner Bros. picture!”




Overall:

I ended up quite “happy” too! “Picture Snatcher” is another of those lesser known films that should really be more of a classic! Every moment of it, is exciting and/or great fun! Ralph Bellamy is a solid, if unremarkable, second banana, and Robert Emmett O’Connor is one of the best “Irish Cops” you’ll ever see on film!

But James Cagney is the REAL “Picture Snatcher” here – in every sense of the phrase! There isn’t a moment when he’s on screen that you won’t be thoroughly entertained!


“Warner Night at the Movies” allows you to experience the film in a 1933 context. The rest is ably filled-in by our pair of intrepid commentators.

It is highly recommended for fans of James Cagney, fast-talking comedic action, mixed-up romance, the newspaper business, very old cars, gangster and crime films in general, Tommy guns, electric chairs, and those who might romanticize about life in the Great Depression.

Coincidences in Writing: Some Rambling Thoughts.

I’ve long since come to believe that “coincidences in writing” just happen. You’re tempted to think that something was inspired by something else – or was ripped-off by something else. But, probably more often than we realize, it’s most likely just coincidence.

My favorite example of this in classic sci-fi TV occurs between STAR TREK “Mirror Mirror” (10/06/1967) and LOST IN SPACE “The Anti-Matter Man” (12/27/1967)!

Each posited an alternate / opposite / evil twin universe – and, miraculously, each had an other-world duplicate of one of “our guys” sporting a BEARD! Mr. Spock for STAR TREK and Major Don West for LOST IN SPACE!

Both aired within 2.5 months of one another, ruling out even inadvertent recollections leading to the similarities, much less the possibility of plagiarism – and both had an amazing number of coinciding elements, including the above-mentioned “nega-character” with a beard. If anything, BOTH might have been cribbed from DC’s “Crime Syndicate of America”, that first appeared in 1964.

The funny thing about the Star Trek / Lost in Space parallel is that there really weren't any (or very many) established "norms" for TV Sci-Fi at the time. Now? Certainly there are! But, THEN? They were pretty much making it up as they went along -- with only '50s Sci-Fi movies as a guide. For examples of THAT, watch the great classic "Forbidden Planet" - - and count the ways it influences BOTH series. Star Trek and Lost in Space pretty much "did their own thing -- their own way" (And I STILL love 'em both for that!) making such a parallel all the more unlikely.

In direct contrast, for examples of "non-coincidence", watch the '50s film "The Thing from Another World" -- and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea's "The Heat Monster" (1967). The nature of the respective "creatures" differed (An alien "vegetable" vs. a sentient "flame-creature"), but EVERYTHING else was the same. The one key element of "The Thing from Another World" that didn't appear in the Voyage episode (the creature being defrosted from a block of ice by an unfortunately placed electric blanket) found itself in the Lost in Space episode "Castles in Space" (also 1967). I'll be doing a DVD Review of "The Thing from Another World" someday, and will be certain to mention that.

Applying the topic to my own experiences in comic book script writing:

In my first script for Gemstone, Super Goof: “Now Museum, Now You Don’t” (2006), I referred to the omnipresent coffee establishment in the greater Duckburg-Mouseton Metro Area as “Starducks”. “Thuh coffee so strong it puts feathers on a hairy chest!”

I liken getting to use a gag like that to “finding a 50 dollar bill lying on the ground”. You’re glad YOU picked it up, and wonder why no one else got to it first.

Anyone who has read Boom!’s Darkwing Duck comic will know that “Starducks” was also the omnipresent coffee establishment in St. Canard. Darkwing authors Ian Brill, Aaron Sparrow, or whoever wrote that first arc did not borrow that from me… it was a coincidence!

Though, ironically, in the very unlikely event that “Now Museum, Now You Don’t” ever gets reprinted, folks will probably think I borrowed it from THEM. (If, indeed, they remember “Starducks” at all!)

“Starducks” was simply a very likely name to use in a particular situation.

I have ANOTHER such “50 dollar bill find” in an unpublished UNCLE SCROOGE script that I completed just as Boom! decided to cancel the title.

It’s another “one of those things” that’s so good and so obvious, that you wonder why no one’s beaten you to it. No, I’m not tipping on what it is! Hopefully, someday, you’ll see it in print!

So, now I’m hoping that someone soon picks up the license to publish UNCLE SCROOGE – and decides to run that story – before another writer “beats me to it”, who really may not have done so at all!

And, if it should happen, I will be unhappy, but I’ll know it was a coincidence.

“The Warner Archive Collection”

Since we’ll often be referring to “The Warner Archive Collection” in future DVD reviews, I thought I’d post this generalized description here, and simply link to it as needed.

“The Warner Archive Collection” offers online exclusive DVD packages that are “manufactured-on-demand” (or MOD). They are not mass-produced, standard pressed DVDs, but are recorded on DVD-R.


I don’t consider DVD-R to be the most desirable medium. Though the end product is certainly superior to “bootleg” material, it is a step or two below the mass-marketed product we know and love.


At least in this regard, Warner plays fair with us by issuing the following disclaimer:


“This disc is expected to play back in DVD video ‘play only’ devices, and may not play back in other DVD devices including recorders and PC drives”.


True enough. Warner Archive discs are not recognized by my computer, though they play just fine on my Blu-ray player.

“The Warner Archive Collection” product takes a no-frills approach. Extra Features, if they exist at all, are kept to a bare minimum. Films and programs are not segmented by “Chapters”, but the Skip Forward and Skip Backward keys of your DVD remote allow you to navigate at ten-minute intervals – regardless of where that ten minute jump will land you logically within the story. …Though, more recent TWAC releases have exhibited “Chapter Breaks” in a more logical, and less mechanically rigid, fashion.

No subtitles are included and source material is generally fine and sharp, though not always as pristine as a standard release.


Retail prices are often higher than they might otherwise be, but that comes with the nature of “Manufacture on Demand”. Sales and other promotions are offered regularly, once you’ve made the initial foray into TWAC, mitigating the impact of pricing somewhat.

On the plus side “The Warner Archive Collection” is able to offer many movies, TV shows, and animated series that would not likely find support in the present-day mass market. “The Warner Archive Collection” has provided such wonders as Hanna-Barbera’s ‘60s series FRANKENSTEIN JR. AND THE IMPOSSIBLES and Irwin Allen’s early ‘70s aborted TV pilot CITY BENEATH THE SEA... just to name two.