GEEKTARDED

El Esqueleto: The Skeleton Issue #2

2011-12-14T09:53:00.012-06:00

Weekly "El Esqueleto: The Skeleton" web comic updates start today and update every Wednesday morning. Today: Issue #2 cover "El Esqueleto Vs. The Girls From Brazil". The stoy begins Wednesday, 12/21!

UPDATE: Computer is back up and running and regularly scheduled posts are rolling again (yea!)

El Esqueleto: The Skeleton Issue #2 on Flickr

NOTE: For full-size images on the blog, open comic pages in new window (makes it much easier to read :)

Official GEEKTARDED T's up for ordering!

2011-12-05T14:17:00.001-06:00

If you like the blog, the comic or just tossing away good money, head over to Zazzle and snag a shirt!

Geektarded T-Shirt by Grindhouse_Comics
make money as an artist using Zazzle.

"El Esqueleto: The Skeleton" Issue 1

2011-11-28T19:01:00.005-06:00

It's here! My new web comic, "El Esqueleto: The Skeleton".

I've posted issue #1 in it's entirety. Issue #2 launches Wednesday Dec. 14, new comic day. Updates will post each Wednesday, there after (barring cataclysm, ape-rule or zombpacalypse).

So, take a look. LMK what you all think and I hope you enjoy "The Skeleton" and his action-packed life as an Operator for the Battle Science Bureau.

More to come!
-Matt
(Dr. G)

Sketchbook Lookey-Look #4

2011-09-29T18:56:00.000-05:00

'nother shot from my sketchbook

Sketchy book looky-look #3

2011-09-24T18:57:00.001-05:00

Some doodles from this afternoon.
Dr.G

Sketchy book looky-look #2

2011-09-22T17:16:00.000-05:00

More sketch book fun

Sketchy book looky-look #1

2011-09-22T16:32:00.001-05:00

Sketch book post #1

PS Geektarded will resume soon with an all new look, new web comics and new pop culture nonsense

Dr.G

2011-09-22T14:05:00.001-05:00

Mobile test...

Finally!

2010-10-17T09:21:00.002-05:00

After all these years, Hasbro has finally been able to capture Robert Downey Jr's legendary, childbearing hips in plastic.

Treat him right, boys, and he'll give you a big family.

Art of Scariness: Day 11

2010-10-17T09:08:00.005-05:00

And that's when the CHUDs got me...

Art of Scariness: Day 10

2010-10-17T09:06:00.004-05:00

TIME CRIMES
Fantastic thriller. Fantastic design on the "villian" costume

Art of Scariness: Day 9

2010-10-17T09:03:00.004-05:00

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2
Lefty vs Leatherface

Art of Scariness: Day 8

2010-10-17T09:01:00.004-05:00

JAWS
the movie that made me afraid to go in just about any body of water, except the bathtub.

Art of Scariness: Day 7

2010-10-08T10:03:00.003-05:00

BURIAL GROUND: Night of Terror

Deliciously bad Italian Zombie movie. Probably most remembered for having a middle-aged dwarf in a huge wig playing the 10 year old boy (who happens to be interested in his mom's bountiful bra-meats)

Art of Scariness: Day 6

2010-10-08T10:01:00.003-05:00

Boooooooooyyyyyyyyyy!

The Tall Man and his shiny balls from Phantasm

Art of Scariness: Day 5

2010-10-08T09:59:00.002-05:00

THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES!!!

Art of Scariness: Day 4

2010-10-04T21:45:00.003-05:00

Day 4
DAWN OF THE DEAD
"We got this, man! We got this by the ass!"

An all-time classic and one of my top 10 horror movies.

Art of Scariness: Day 3

2010-10-04T21:41:00.003-05:00

Day 3
PSYCHOMANIA

Caught this for the first time this weekend on TCM. Fun stuff. Late 60s biker movie set in the UK. Via Satanic ritual, bikers kill themselves and come back as fairly mild, immortal killing machines. PG stuff, but cool music, killer costumes and a kick-ass motorcycle blasting out of a grave make this a must see.

Flea Market Finds 10/3/2010

2010-10-03T16:23:00.003-05:00

Had a good morning at the monthly collector's show. Found some treasures and some bargains.

Art of Scariness: Day 2

2010-10-03T14:12:00.002-05:00

Day 2
The Re-Animator

Art of Scariness: Day 1

2010-10-01T22:03:00.004-05:00

Day 1
DAY OF THE DEAD

The third entry in Romero's Dead series is a personal favorite of mine. Savini's zombies look amazing. The gore. Bub the Zombie. And my favorite Romero character, the awesomely lovable bastard, Captain Rhodes.

OPERATION: Rebirthinglyness

2010-10-01T21:56:00.002-05:00

Wow. It's been nearly a year. Hard to believe. Well, fear not, Doc Geektarded is back. I've been working to launch a bigger and better blog and Oct 1 seems as good a time as any.
Halloween is upon us and to get in the mood, I'm launching Geektarded's Art of Scariness. Each day I will watch a scary movie and post a pin-up based on the film. So, awaaaay we go!

Dr. G

Dr. Geektarded's Terrifying World of Radio Horror!

2009-10-19T16:27:00.005-05:00

Hello... 'Ello... 'Ellooooo?

Not sure if any one's still stopping by. Sorry for the lack of anything resembling an update. Life's a gruff 'ole bastard and the wee blogs must suffer.

But hey! It's Halloween-time!. To roll in some fun, I've added an MP3 player to the blog (look to the right hand side) and loaded up some of my favorite old time radio horror shows. There's some Quiet Please, Lights Out, Suspense and Inner Sanctum. More will be added and as the other holidays come, I'll switch up the themes with Thanksgiving and Christmas.

So, turn down the lights, curl up and prepare to get spooked.
Lights Out! Everybody...

Dr.G

The Ballad of GI Joe

2009-08-10T16:55:00.004-05:00

This could be the greatest video ever. It'll make you laugh, warm your heart and make you misty-eyed all at the same time.
From Funny or Die comes "The Ballad of GI Joe"

Rest in Peace Les Lye

2009-07-24T20:57:00.005-05:00

Just heard some sad news this afternoon. Canadian comedy great, Les Lye, passed away Tuesday at age 84. Les had a long career, but most of us in the U.S. who grew up in the 80s will remember him for his dozens of roles on "You Can't Do That On Television."

I've been watching "You Can't Do That On Television." episodes the last few weeks, and damn, Les was one funny guy. Ross, Barth, Blip, the drunken dad, El Capitano, Snake Eyes, the teacher, the coach. Such great characters. I still remember me and my kid sister bellowing "D'hiiiiii Heard That!"

So, raise a glass to Les and watch some classic YCDTOT. Thanks for countless hours of childhood entertainment that have stuck with me 25+ years later.

"Mysteries And Crimes"

For more episodes check out:
http://www.youtube.com/user/retrovision7

Keep 'em laughing, Les
-Dr.G

An amazing book...

2009-07-05T13:59:00.003-05:00

Picked up a copy of "Mego 8" Super-Heroes: World's Greatest Toys!" by Benjamin Holcomb this week. What an incredible and beautiful book! If you are any kind of Mego fan, DC or Marvel fan or toy collector, this is a must buy. It's a brilliant mixture of reference book, nostalgia, history and art. Seriously, this should be the templet all other toy book authors follow.

I can't say enough good things about this. I hope Halcomb continues to write/create because fans and collector need more books like this. Details and history or Meco Corp., manufacturing, how they stocked the warehouses, how they dealed with DC and Marvel, selling product to retailers like Kresgee. Beautiful photos of mego figures, every imaginable packaging variation. Foregin releases. God it's some cool stuff.

Here's hoping for a follow up book(s) We need a Comic Action Heroes/Pocket Heroes book, plus 12" megos and other Mego superheros. Hell, foreign Mego too. Keep 'em coming.

Toys Toys Toys

2009-07-05T13:00:00.007-05:00

The new GI JOE: Rise of Cobra movie toys are out and I snagged 4 at Toys R Us yesterday afternoon. I'm still not sure what my feelings on the movie are. Part of me thinks it nails that "feel' of the old GI Joe cartoons. That mix of military with some James Bond supervilliany and mad science mixed in. The other half just sees those silly-ass accelerator suits (I hope those are a minor set piece and not the backbone of the film).

But regardless of the film's quality, most of the toys look to kick some serious ass. I grabbed Snake Eyes and Destro, along with the 2 Toys R Us exclusive figures, Barbecue and Firefly.

My favorite of the bunch and it not even a movie figure. Barbecue is one of my favorite original Joes ("The Viper is Coming...") and one of the best of the newer 25th Anniversary figures. Movie BBQ is a repaint of the 25th version, done in black, yellow and silver. The yellow seems like an odd choice, but all together, it looks fantastic. BBQ looks good with the movie figure and also fits in nice with the 25th Joes as a repaint. Comes with the original BBQ gear (backpack, foam gun, hose and axe); with a assault rifle and shotgun added.

Another non-movie character. Firefly is equipped to the hilt. Comes with goggles, ammo pouch with clips, machine gun, explosives, and a backpack that holds a knife, flashlight, multi-tool and gas canister. Great details all around. Firefly looks good in the vest armor. I'm not sure if this is a cobbled together figure from other parts, or a straight repaint, but its very cool.

Destro
Pretty cool redesign of the classic character. Figure is nicely detailed and sturdy. The weapons have pegs so they can holster to Destro's hips, but they have trouble staying on thanks to the bottom on the coat.
Warning, the filecard give a spoiler of the mask's origin in the movie.

Snake Eyes
A solid figure. Retains the classic Snake Eyes design. In fact, it looks like another 25th Ann. Joe. Snake looks beefier in the movie trailers, while the figure looks slender in comparison. The visor is a separate piece of dark, glossy plastic glued to the head, which is a nice detail. Snake comes with an Uzi, sword and backpack.

Last weekend I picked up the new TF2 Optimus Prime. I had planned to pass on the big figures this time around, figuring that there was no reason to re-buy characters I had bought when the first movie came out. I was super wrong.

The new leader sized Prime is amazing. I guess I never realized how off model the original toy was until I opened the new version. The new Prime is a beautiful figure with tons of detail and articulation. I haven't had the balls to transform him, though. It looks terrifyingly complicated. That level of puzzle solving is usually reserved for summoning Pinhead.

Lastly I picked up the last 3 Masters of the Universe figures on eBay, from various sellers. After the god-awful experiences with Mattel's Matty Collector site in trying to order these guys, I had decided to drop the line. I figure Mattel owes me about 3 hours of my life back trying to buy their wares on their cluster-fucky website. And while I hate backing eBay scalpers, I kept my patience and managed to buy each figure at cost after the fact. I guess that's the key, wait a few weeks, let the scalpers turn a quick buck and then once eBay's flooded with a character, find a seller trying to dump their figures. Zodak, Merman and Hordak, like the previous releases are beautiful figures. I have no regret about the $28 price tag on these, just the nightmare of dealing with Mattel. So, if you had given up on the line, I do recommend searching these out, but stand fast on pricing. Get them at cost.

Revenge of the...Kick-ass!

2009-06-24T09:39:00.004-05:00

Caught the 12:01 showing of Transformers 2 last night/this morning. I'd hoped to get a quick post in when I got home, but I was beat.

Anyway, this was pretty freakin' awsome. I'd say if you enjoyed the first film, you'll enjoy this one too. If you're a Transformers fan, you might even enjoy it more than the first. There's a lot of mythology introduced (Matrix, Space Bridge, Pretenders, Triple-Changers, Combiners, Energon). The effects were insanely good. Lots more robot onscreen-time. Nice interactions between Megatron and Starscream. Autobots and humans working together. It's really starting to feel like a fully realized Transformers world. A place where a guy can pat a truck on the hood and say "How's it going, Ironhide?" with a straight face. Thats pretty damn cool.

The movie is not without it's flaws. It's a little too long, mainly due to some military build-up/deployment scenes. They feel like padding for a movie that really needs none. But other than that, I had no real gripes. Once things get rolling (and beleive me, they waste no time), it a balls-to-the-wall couple of hours. I'm sure it'll have its haters and I'm sure Bay will get bashed, but I really loved it. It's what I was hoping for and expecting, while also exceeded my expectations. It made the "8 year old me" jump for joy.

Dr. G

Back in the saddle...Dr. G returns

2009-06-19T21:04:00.016-05:00

Hey! It's been a while.

A lot has happened since I last posted:
-Winter has turned to a lovely Spring and Spring into a hellish, 98 degree, humid donkey-hole.
-Late Night's got a new host.
-A new crew boldly went where no man had gone before, again.
-Geektarded turned 2 years old in May (missed my own damn birthday!).
-The blog broke 50,000 hits (I never figured I'd break 100).
-And there's a new dog here in Geektarded Base-1...

Lady-B (Miss Brandy, if yo' nasty). A big 'ole pile of Beagle lovin' who'd been sitting patiently at the animal shelter for 6 weeks, until I ran across her.

As far as the reason for the absence... well, it involved a time traveling rain barrel and a plan to thwart the assassination of Martin Sheen, who had been mistaken for a time traveling JFK.

That combined with the new-American standard 50-hour work week, a wicked-lower back injury from moving some stupid-ass sleeper sofas, helping a loved one recover from surgery and the general ass-kickery of life, caused me to play the role of dead-beat blogger.

But, I'm back at HQ, I'm dusting off the Joke-A-Tron 5000 and loading her up with some new cartridges and we'll have some fun...

Well, if you own a TV or done any shopping, then you probably know "Transformers 2: Transform Harder" comes out next week. I'm pretty frickin' excited for the new movie and have been eyeing the new toys for the last couple of weeks. My will broken, I finally bought 2 figures this afternoon (Toys R Us is having a BYGO1/2 OFF sale; basically 2 for $18)

I went purely by what looked cool and snagged "Breakaway" (Autobot jet who love to fly fast and bomb the shit outta the bads) and "Sideways" (Decepticon-sports car-courier-pussy who rather hide behind the stronger 'Cons).

I'll say this, the new toys look great. I have no clue who's in the movie and who's a "toy only" character. I'm assuming Sideways is in the flick because he has the 14 billion parts-look of the movie designs. Breakaway has the movie style, but has cleaner lines and boxier forms.

Breakaway has a nice, solid, human-like form (does that make sense? In other words he looks like a robot and not a spider shitting a tire) He's got a cool gattling gun wrist cannon that you can spin. Really a nice figure. My only complaint is the package photo has some nice silver metallic paint which has been replaced by a cheaper looking blueish plastic on the actual toy. Aside from that, a great toy. I can see this mold getting repainted a couple times.

Sideways, the cowardly sport car. I'm really digging the design. One of the most surprising things is that he can stand on the spindly legs with the tiny feet. He look really good in the silver/black/red color scheme and has a nice bot mode. Toss in the saw blade wheel and you got a winner.

One thing that surprised me on both figures: no stupid missile launching nonsense. Hate those things. All in all, both are winners. So go buy some. Hasbro and Michael Bay's got bills to pay.

I leave you tonight with a sneak peak at some footage from the new Live Action Star Wars TV series. Looks like Lucas has got another winner on his hands...

The Wrath of Con

2009-03-29T16:19:00.014-06:00

Yesterday, some friends and I took it on the road to Kansas City (specifically Overland Park) for Planet ComicCon. For us Midwestern Plains-types, this is probably the biggest Con in the area and it's always a good time. We did have one factor against us, a big 'ole snowstorm heading towards KC.

Our wheelman, Robb.

The Gang that Couldn't Sit Straight. Tracie, Monty and Tim.

Mound City for gas, snacks and...

A Major Award. "Robot Converters" from the "Energy Club"...huh? Basically it's a handless Optimus Prime, with Inferno's head. Top it off with some in-pack Laffy Taffy, Sweet Tarts and Smarties and you got a souvenier, baby!

We faced some icy roads on the way in and there were probably a dozen cars off the road on the last 8 miles of the trip in.

And we're here! There was a nice, big crowd, lots of dealers and celebrity guests and some excellent costumes.

Alien posing for photos.

Kick-ass Iron Man Mark I armor! I actually thought thay had a movie prop on display until I walked up to snap a pic and the armor started walking towards me.

Leaving and the snow hits the fan

The roads out of KC were terrifying. Lots of clinching and gallows humor. But once out of KC it cleared off and was smooth sailing the way home.

Got some great deals. Cheap trades...

Tons of 25 cent comics from a place called "Clint's Comics" (If I remember correctly). Tons of new and old stuff, most in excellent condition. I coulda came home with a couple of longboxes easily if common sense hadn't stepped in.

Great toys too. Snagged some reproduction Star Trek Megos, some loose JLU animated villians, a Jack Kirby Orion figure and a couple of DC classics.

Another excellent Con. "WE WILL RETURNNNNNNNN!!!"

PS My travel companions were 75% of the Comicbook Crossfire Podcast and they will have a special ComicCon podcast with some great interviews and footage of the trip coming soon. Be sure to check them out at
Comicbook Crossfire Podcast

Starship Anti-Child Abuse Troopers 3: Marauder

2009-02-08T16:04:00.003-06:00

I think I just had an aneurysm...

Hulk VS.

2009-02-08T14:17:00.009-06:00

Hulk VS. Thor and Hulk VS. Wolverine. 2 Movies. 1 DVD. All kick-ass!

Marvel and Lionsgate's newest direct to DVD animated feature dropped into stores recently. I'm sure I'm not the only Joe who saw the short run times on both of these and had a red alert go up. But the reasonable price, the decent looking animation and the PG-13 rating made me take the gamble. The verdict: Awesome. I think the "mini-movie" format is the way to go. Why pad out a weak story into an 80 minute feature, when you can do 2 lean, mean action packed stories? The animation and voice acting were top notch on both and I was completely wrapped up in each movie.

Hulk Vs. Thor.
The basic set up is once a year, after Odin has feasted on a basket teriyaki buffalo wings and queso dippers, he must take a week long nap to recharge. During that time, Loki and all the wacky Asgardians critters lay siege and Thor and his Amazing Friends must turn back the tide. But this year a wild card has been thrown into the mix, the Hulk. What follows are some big battles, Thor and Loki's Bogus Journey and loads of cool cameos by Thor comic regulars.
Now, I'm pretty much a casual Thor fan. I like him, but mainly as part of a team. This movie changed my mind on that. This is how Thor should be done. Big, epic fantasy. Bring on more of this!

Hulk Vs. Wolverine
Logan is called in to stop the rampaging Hulk. Wolvie and Hulk fight and some Weapon X regulars like Sabertooth, Deadpool, Omega Red and Deathstrike are thrown into the mix. The result is one of the best translations of the Wolverine to the screen that I have even seen.
My inner 10 year old was bouncing of the walls during this one. Wolveine was perfect. It's the first time I've ever seen him portrayed as the pint-sized beserker - outside of comics. Sabertooth, Deathstrike, Omega and Deadpool were perfection. And the violence! Finally, these characters get to cut loose on-screen. Wolvie slashes and stabs and the blood and limbs fly.

I'd give both 5 out of 5. This is some of the best comics-to-animation out there and it's the perfect format, length-wise. We need more like these. Bring on Ghostrider, Punisher, Deadpool ... anybody. Just do it like this.

I will say watch Thor first (the tender foreplay) and finish with Wolverine (the Haitian Chili dog).

Breaking news!
Based on the success of the Hulk Vs. DVD sales, Lionsgate has announced the following sequels at NY Comic Con:

-Dr. G

Comicbook Crossfire Podcast

2009-01-28T21:05:00.005-06:00

Just wanted to give a shout out to a new video podcast, COMICBOOK CROSSFIRE. It's put together by a talented group of friends of mine. Episode 4 just went live this week, so give 'em a watch (or listen) and drop 'em an email. They talk new and old comics and crack me up every time.

http://comicbookcrossfire.libsyn.com/

http://www.myspace.com/capescomics

The show is sponsored by and shot on location at
Capes Comic Book Lounge
Located at 6208 Maple St. in Benson (i.e Omaha, NE 68104)
(Smack dab between The Waiting Room and Jake's)
ph 402.558.0212
Hours Mon-Sat 11-8, Sun 12-4

If you're in the area, check out the store. It kick's some serious ass
-Dr.G

Mattel Collector's toys: Beautiful, Overpriced and Addictive.

2009-01-25T20:37:00.007-06:00

http://www.mattycollector.com

Since my Skeletor and Adam Strange/Starfire Mattel figures arrived on Friday, I thought I might do a quick review of them and last month's He-Man and Beastman release.

If You haven't see the Masters of the Universe figures in person, they are really beautifully done. I'd have to say close to prefect.

The DC Universe Classics are also excellent figures. Adam Strange uses the standard DCUC male body, but sports a new head sculpt, vest/rocketpack and pistol. Overall he's a great figure. The JLU animated figures have shown that Mattel can do some creative things with paint apps, and Strange is proof of that.
Starfire uses the Harley Quinn body, which looks good, but it's too petite for the character. Plus she suffers from Uni-boob Syndrome. But, as far a comic styled Starfires go, it beats the scary looking DC Direct version from years ago. Hopefully DC will pony up a more properly endowed Starfire figure in the future, but for now this one looks go to me.

Back to He-Man. As you can see, the designs of the originals are closely followed. Skeletor even has the cool green and yellow skull paint apps of the original.

The figures have a nice range of pose ability. Skeletor's arm movement suffers due to his shoulder armor. All have limited hip movement from the rubbery loin cloths they are sporting.

Like I said, these are really gorgeous sculpts. They probably some of the best figures I've bought in the last few months. Personally I love that they've slavishly followed the original designs. I loved the newer Masters line from '02, but the classic look is perfect.

Come on. How bad-assed is this?

The only 2 gripes I have are this:

The Packaging. It looks good, but they are sold as the standard, carded figures. These are for collectors, so why not boxed? Something that you can open and still save the packaging.

and the second, THE PRICE.
Mattel is charging $20 a figure on these. That's high. Almost too high. If they weren't so nicely sculpted, it'd be insane. Tack on like $8 shipping and you talking a hefty toy bill for one figure.

Now, I know these are brand new sculpts and they aren't being mass marketed, but the original Masters of the Universe toyline was the very definition of repaints and reuse of parts. And the same thing will happen with the new figures, if the line has some legs to it.

I hope they don't continually rake the buyers over the coals on the cost. They've all ready announced Fakkor at $20 (He is a Con exclusive, though). I guess the true test will be if they get to characters like Stinkor and Mossman. I'd love to see them do some reduced price 2-packs or something. That or some kind of mail in. Buy the 12 figures during the year and get a free 13th mail in exclusive or something. I just hate the idea of a year from now paying $28 for get a figure that's only had a new head slapped on it.

But anyway, they are fantastic. I will collect these are long as they continue to maintain the quality of the figures (and if the price doesn't become more prohibitive than it all ready is).

Skeletor is out now. He-man and Beastman are sold out (for now). I 'm betting more will pop up later. Or a 2-pack later on. If you can't wait, and can swing it, they are on secondary market for $35-$40. If you have the extra, they are indeed worth it.

-Dr.G

Random 1984 nonsense...again

2009-01-25T20:21:00.004-06:00

Found some unused GI JOE colored pencil by number sheets from 1984. They have seom pretty aweful artwork. Maybe that's why they were never colored.

Storm Shadow clones himself

Spirit poses for his class photo, while Duke is killed by Storm Shadow in the background. Good going Spirit.

Ole' Stormy get's his ass kicked by an unarmed Duke, proving the might of the Ninja!

A Cobra trooper cicles the missile silos, waiting to be shot down.

Snake Eyes: Commando/Human bomb target

Storm Shadow attacks SheetRock, the new GI JOE Wall Master.

Zombies!!!

2009-01-25T20:10:00.005-06:00

Z.O.M.B.I.E.
Zillions Of Mutated Bodies Infecting Everyone!
School Girl, Rockabilly, Bathtime, School Boy, and the Ape!

Ordered these through Previews for around $5. Very cool little plastic army men-sized zombie figures. They have a nice level of detail and all stand well on their own. The website says series 1, so hopefully more will be coming.

Check 'em out at:

http://www.octobertoys.com/zombie/

Random 1984 nonsense

2009-01-25T19:55:00.004-06:00

Hey, strangers. Hope everyone had a merry christmas and happy new year. The hiatus has been due mainly to work and a little blessed event. The purchase of an XBox 360. Seriously, that sucker is the ultimate time sucker. But awesome. Seriously, buy one if you can.

Anyway, while going through a box of old papers, I found some random cool crap from my youth and I figure I'll scan stuff of it in from time to time.

Up first, a school folder from 1984.

Woooooo! Garfield. I drew fangs on him, so I guess he's about to feed on Odie.

Doodles. My obsessions at the time: Stickers, superheroes, Inspector Gadget, Gremlins, Star Wars, Storm Shadow and Heathcliff...

Ninjas, Garfield, more Gremlins and more Inspector Gadget...

A Very Batman Christmas

2008-12-24T18:55:00.002-06:00

Ran across this pic this fine Christmas Eve and it gave me the giggles.
DR.G

Silent Night, Deadly Night, "Ira's Toys", world's sketchiest toy store

2008-12-16T20:37:00.010-06:00

Keeping with the Christmas spirit, I decided this would be a good time to post some screencaps of Ira's Toys from Silent Night, Deadly Night.

I have no clue if this was an actual toy store, or if it was a merely set dressing. It's hard to find any behind the scenes info on the movie and the credits are like snuff movie credits. Nothing saying where it was shot. No "special thanks to", etc.

Anyway, Ira's Toys is a creepy, 3 aisle, understocked hole in the wall. It looks like a closeout toy outlet store run by meth addicts. But it has some cool, now-vintage toys from the early to mid 80s.

Ira's Toy

Check out the cool Halloween costumes

Star Wars Dewback and a pile of Jabba the Hut toys

Poochie! The Rockin' Dog!

Matchbox Super Garage, Stomper, Mr. Potato Head

Wider shot of the Sat Wars toys. Below them you can see a couple of Manglors hanging on the shelf and the KRULL board game. Sweet.

Close-up of Star Wars toys. See the Luke figure card peaking out?

Another aisle with some various Smurf items and dolls.

Look behind the manager on the top shelf: A Masters of the Universe standee and Castle Greyskull. Also a couple of He-Man kites below them.

That's it. A Wide shot of the store to close us out.
There was some GI Joe stuff, but nothing I could get a decent grab of.
-Dr.G

More Montgomery Ward scans: 1981 and 1982

2008-12-16T15:52:00.010-06:00

Here's some more scans. I combined '81 and '82, since '81 was a pretty lackluster catalog.

1981

Those helmets kick serious ass, especially the yellow one.

Empire Strike Back

1982

A Smurfy Christmas Cover

Here's that "Total Immersion" thing I was talking about in the previous post. Here's what life would be if you ate, breathed and poohed Pac-man (Which I think I tried to do from ages 7 to 8)

Those Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man puppets are the most terrifying things I've seen in a while. Good, 'ole fashioned, armless-nightmare fuel.

The debut of GI JOE

Empire Strike Back

An excellent Atari spread from the fold out back cover of the catalog.

This blew my mind. A WKRP DJ booth control center record player. I'm a huge WKRP fan, but had no idea they did any merchandise. Santa, please bring me one of these, mint in the box. "Boooooogerrrrrr!!!"

Table top video games

It's Christmas, or so I've heard...

2008-12-16T15:19:00.008-06:00

Dude, Christmas is next week! How the hell did this happen? I haven't even had a chance to put my tree up...

Well, here's something that always puts me in the spirit. Christmas Catalogs! During those childhood years these were the text books for Holiday Education 101. My mom used to get them all. Sears, JC Penny, Service Merchandise and my favorite... Montgomery Ward (or "MONKEY WARTS"! when I was too dumb to know better). And from November until January, these would be stacked on the coffee table in the living room. Constantly read and re-read. Favorite toys dog-eared for quick reference.

All the wish books were great, but I always gravitated to Montgomery Ward. I think one of the big reasons was they would do multi-paged themed layouts. It would be total immersion; a lifestyle. You could see what life would be if you lived in Transformers or Smurf-themed world. If you room, clothes, toys and decorations were all that particular character. It was mind blowing.

To get things rolling, here's some of my favorite pages from the 1979 Montgomery Ward Christmas Values catalog:

MICRONAUTS

STAR WARS

SUPER HEROES

Used to love those Super Heroes "Fiddlesticks" construction sets. I remeber, like most merchandise in the 70s, that they had both DC and Marvel.

MORE SUPER HEROES

Mmmm...MEGOS

GAMES.

I loved those aqua games like Basketball. So much fun.

TODDLER TOYS.

I remember playing with both those Disney toys in the middle alot.

VIEW-MASTER

STRETCH ARMSTRONG, ROM and ALIEN

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

THE CHANNEL F VIDEO GAME CONSOLE

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

2008-11-23T14:58:00.004-06:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. The last 3 weeks have been a blinding shit-storm, work-wise. And with Thanksgiving, out of town company added to work...well, if I can get out from under the next week, I'm hoping for a smooth December and new posts.

In the meantime, here's one of my favorite holiday specials, the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special. This one beats all the rest for me (yes even CB Christmas). Snoopy making popcorn and toast. Eating at a ping pong table. It's the reason the Pilgrims died for our sins.

So, take a break for 20 minutes or so and get in the Turkey Day mood. The special also airs on CBS on Tuesday and Thursday night at 7pm (central). Or go out and get the 3 pack with the Halloween and Christmas specials.

It's like a cozy blanket for your brain.

Later,
-Dr. G

The Horror... of Crocodile Dundee

2008-11-09T13:57:00.001-06:00

Excellent re-edit trailer for "Crocodile Dundee"

Moments of Deliciousness Halloween comic

2008-11-01T19:58:00.003-06:00

I busted my ass to try and get this Moments of Deliciousness comic up last night, but it just didn't happen. Day later. Dollar short. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Anywhooo, hope everyone had a fantastiriffic Halloween. I OD'ed on horror movies and Diet Pepsi as I inked and lettered. I'm pretty sure the 21 year old version of of me would have kicked my butt for being so lame, but it was nice.

Here's the comic. More will be coming soon, I promise (or threaten, if you hate it)

-Dr.G

"The Dummy" short from USA Night Flight 1981

2008-10-26T01:23:00.002-05:00

For Halloween, a old short that used to scare the living crap out of me as a kid.

"The Dummy" 1981

Disney's Halloween Treat

2008-10-19T21:18:00.004-05:00

This one's near and dear to my lizard heart, Disney's Halloween Treat. Aired off and on in the 80s and has some great halloween/scary themed Disney clips and shorts.

More Children's Palace/Child World goodness

2008-10-13T14:08:00.009-05:00

I got some more cool pics from former CW/CP guru, Bernard

Bernard also sent along a Child World video from youtube

Some other CW/CP videos

Lost Retail: Venture stores

2008-10-13T13:20:00.009-05:00

Here's some background culled from the various online sources:

Venture Stores, Inc.
A former chain of retail stores that operated in the American Midwest. The company operated over 90 stores, and was based out of the St. Louis suburb of O'Fallon, Missouri.
Opened: 1970 in St. Louis, MO
Headquarters: O'Fallon, MO
Employees: 18,000
Website: www.venturestores.com (archived at Deadmalls.com)

History
1970: First store opened in in the St. Louis suburb of Overland (location became a Kmart and is now a Home Depot).
1976: Expanded to 20 units.
1978: Venture purchased 23 Turn Style locations in the Chicago area from Jewel food stores, and expanded to over 40 locations. They were the largest discount chain in Chicago with inner city locations other than Zayre/Ames.
1985: Over 50 stores, most of which were in Chicago and St. Louis.
1990: Venture became a private corporation, operating in eight states: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, and Indiana.
1995: 115 stores in 9 states, having expanded into Texas in 1993.
1998: Bankruptcy. Stores closed in late April

Laura, a Venture fan and super-friend of the blog was kind enough to share some of her cool Venture collectables to help me round out this post

Ad from Oklahoma Cit, Christmas 1984

Venture's advertising slogan during the 1980s was "Save With Style." In the 1990s, Venture used two other slogans; the first was tied to the remodel and
restrategizing to be like Kohl's and that slogan was "See What's New For You!". By the time they closed they used the slogan "See What A Little Money Can Buy".

Bankruptcy
By the late 1990s, the chain found that it was unable to compete against other retail chains, such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart. Venture tried to return to its founding principles as an upscale discounter and remodeled most of its stores. While facing vast competition Venture made a fatal mistake trying to expand into Texas instead of protecting its core markets. Venture sold the Texas stores to Kmart in 1996 and closed its distribution center in Corsicana, Texas. The company entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 20, 1998, and tried to operate with a smaller number of stores. The effort was not successful, and the company announced its closing on April 27, 1998. Most of the former Venture buildings were absorbed into other chains, such as Kmart, Kohl's, ShopKo, and Burlington Coat Factory

TV Guide Halloween show ads

2008-10-12T16:12:00.009-05:00

I'm a full-on vintage TV Guide junkie. It's probably one of my dumber geek-obsessions. I just love looking through the old one. So, here's some Halloween themed ad scans. I'll do my best to include the location, station and years.

KPTM 42 Omaha, 1988

KMEG (I think Grand Island, NE) 1988

Bugs Bunny, Raggedy Ann and Real People Halloween Specials, Los Angeles 1980

Fright Week, "The Thinkg with 2 Heads", Los Angeles 1980

"How the Grinch Stole Halloween", Los Angeles 1980

"The Halloween that Almost Wasn't", Los Angeles 1980

"In Search of..." with a pimped out Nimoy, Los Angeles 1980

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", Los Angeles 1980

The Omen and The Omen II, Los Angeles 1980

Salem's Lot Los Angeles 1980

"It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", KTSP Channel 10, Phoenix 1983

"Halloween II", KNXV Channel 15, Phoenix 1986

"Night of the Living Dead", KTVK Channel 3, Phoenix 1986

"Tales from the Darkside Special", KNXV Channel 15, Phoenix 1986

Halloween Thrillers, KMGH Channel 7, Denver 1981

Ripley's Believe it or Not, Denver 1981

Scary-ass local news ads on a multi-part cancer series,
KMGH Channel 7, Denver 1981
Skeletor VS Can-Sor, on a very special Masters of the Universe.

Famous Monsters #152 Halloween-ish Ads

2008-10-12T15:53:00.006-05:00

Famous Monsters #152, jam packed with some killer monster and scifi ads, from 1979.

Masks

Super 8 Movies

More Super 8 Movies

All sorts o' cool stuff

Records

Tighty Whiteys!!! I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit...

Superman

Close Encounters

A Shit ton of Star Wars merchandise

Starlog #8 1977 Saturday Morning TV article

2008-10-12T15:45:00.005-05:00

A fun read with some nice publicity shots for the 1977 Saturday Morning shows.
Includes: Ark II, Far Out Space Nuts, Krofft's Supershow, Big John, Little John, Electrawoman and Dynagirl, Dr. Shrinker, Wonderbug, Land of the Lost, Lost Saucer, Monster Squad, New Adventures of Batman, Scooby Doo and Dynomutt Hour, Shazam/Isis Hour, Super Friends, and Space Ghost/Frankenstein Jr.

A fun read with some nice publicity shots for the 1977 Saturday Morning shows.

Starlog Ads: Random late 70s to Mid 80s

2008-10-12T15:34:00.004-05:00

Since I was doing some scanning for the Halloween ad posts, I thought I'd throw out a few fun ads I ran across.

Filmation animation cel prints
Man, did I ever want those Batman cels when I was a kid. These things were advertised forever, so you'd think these would pop-up from time to time. But I've never ran across any.

Star Wars Masks

Super 8 SciFi movies

NIXON VS ROBOCOP!!!
Actually just a goofy shot from a Starlog letters page for some Boy's Club charity thing. Looks like Robocop's wearing a hoodie under his helmet.

Netflix Picks of the week #2

2008-10-06T15:47:00.004-05:00

Dr. Geektarded's Netflix Picks: Week 2

Up this week:
Inferno
Baby Mama
Wrong Turn 2

Inferno (1980)
Dario Argeno's sequel to Susperia and the second film in the Three Mothers Trilogy. The story follows Rose (briefly) and her brother Mark as they uncover the mystery of "The Lady of Darkness" (Mater Tenebrarum).

Inferno is a beautiful looking film, with a decent story. The pacing seemed a bit off and it took me a couple of tries to figure out who was going to be the film's protagonist. As with most of Argento's movies, the atmosphere and cinematography are fantastic. The use of color really stands out and the movie almost has a 60s technicolor feel to it. Rich reds, blues and magentas.

Not my favorite Argento film, but it's still a good watch.
3 out of 5 stars

Baby Mama (2008)
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler riff on the Odd Couple. Single, baby-crazy, high paid exec (Fey) is unable to spawn and is forced to live with the trashy surrogate mother (Poehler) carrying her baby. Mild wackiness ensues and the opposites become friends. It's one to grow on.

I think I built this one up a little in my mind. I love 30 Rock and for some reason was expecting that style of humor. So, I was disappointed with a film that was a little milder and cutsie that I normally enjoy. But there was some decent laughs, mostly from Poehler's low-rent dullard character doing highbrow things like pissing in a sink, drinking while pregnant, playing American Idol kerokee, etc.

Overall, I'd say skip it. Probably worth watching on cable or something.
2 out of 5 stars.

Wrong Turn 2
Those superpowered, ultra-imbred, uber-hillbillies are back to wreck havoc on a film crew shooting a pilot for a post-apocolyptic themed reality show contest (i.e. "Survivor" after the bomb).

Wow! I was fully expecting this to suck the ass-balls. It was in fact an excellent slasher movie. Mutant hillbilly sex, decent characters/acting, crazy gore and Henry Rollins to boot. A film that finally answers the question: "What would a lady getting vertically split in half by an axe look like?"
5 out of 5 stars

Dr. Geektarded's 31 Films of Halloween

2008-10-03T08:27:00.005-05:00

To kick off the Halloween festivities, I've cooked up a Netflix list for all you Horror fans

http://www.netflix.com/ReviewsAndLists?prid=783247454&showList=252025

Dr. Geektarded's 31 Films of Halloween

Halloween
The first flick in the trilogy from director John Carpenter, Halloween almost single-handedly invented the 1980s slasher genre. Escaped lunatic Michael Myers (no, not the Austin Powers actor) goes on a murderous baby-sitter-slaying rampage on Halloween. Only baby sitter Jamie Lee Curtis (the quintessential scream queen) and psychiatrist Donald Pleasence can stop him.

Halloween II
This bloodier sequel picks up where the original ended. An injured Jamie Lee Curtis recuperates in the hospital not knowing that murderous Michael Myers is licking his wounds in a nearby room. The hospital setting makes for spooky sequences with Myers' slow footsteps echoing loudly on the tile floor. The diagnosis for impressionable viewers: long nights of insomnia.

High Tension
Students Marie (Cecile de France) and Alex (Maiwenn Le Besco) have no idea of the horrors that await them when they head off to a remote country home to study for their upcoming exams. When night falls, a psychopathic stranger attacks, tying up Alex and taking her away. It's up to Marie to save her friend -- but first, she must figure out what is really going on. Philippe Nahon co-stars in this twisty-turny tale of terror.

Fright Night
Nobody believes horror-movie addict Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) when he discovers that his suave new neighbor, Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon), is a vampire. Kith and kin believe Charley is certifiable, and his single mother develops a romantic interest in Dandridge. When the bloodsucker starts stalking Charley, he turns to TV horror-film host and ghoul-hunter Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) in this hysterical spoof.

Night of the Comet
Earth has been ripped to shreds after a run-in with a killer comet, and those who have survived are in a fight for their lives in this campy cult classic. Valley Girl Reg (Catherine Mary Stewart) and her sister (Kelli Maroney) discover they're two of the lucky few. But scientists are after them, and now they must run. Why? Because the researchers believe they need the blood of survivors to concoct a drug that can save them all from further ruin.

Tenebre
An American novelist comes to Rome to promote his latest book, "Tenebre." After his arrival, a shocking sequence of brutal homicides occur which strangely resemble the murders he's written about in his book ...

Silver Bullet
Adapted from author Stephen King's Cycle of the Werewolf, this campy thriller tells of a sleepy American town that's terrorized by extreme sadistic murders -- seemingly, by a werewolf. While all the town's inhabitants prepare to lock themselves up at night, Marty Coslaw, a 13-year-old, wheelchair-bound boy, is the only person brave enough to try to track down the mysterious killer.

Friday the 13th: Part 4: The Final Chapter
Hockey-masked psychopath Jason Vorhees (Ted White) is back in business at Camp Crystal Lake in the fourth (but far from final) installment of the popular, long-running horror series. As randy teens are slain one by one, Tommy (Corey Feldman) comes up with a plan to distract the killer. Makeup master Tom Savini provides much of the gore, and actor Crispin Glover turns in an unusual performance as a stud in training.

Friday the 13th: Part 7: The New Blood
The legendary horror series continues! After lying dormant at the bottom of Crystal Lake, Jason is released from his watery grave by Tina (Lar Park-Lincoln), a telekinetic teenager who returned to the site where her father supposedly drowned in hopes of using her psychic powers to solve the mystery of his death. But, with the hockey-masked murderer on the loose, the killing spree begins again. Can she control her powers enough to stop Jason?

A Nightmare on Elm Street
A group of high school friends are being slaughtered in their sleep by the hideous fiend of their shared dreams. When the police ignore her explanation, one girl must confront the killer in his shadowy realm.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
It's been many years since Freddy Krueger's (Robert Englund) first victim, Nancy, came face to face with Freddy and his sick, evil ways. Now, Nancy's all grown up; she's put her frightening nightmares behind her and is helping teens cope with their dreams. Too bad Freddy's decided to herald his return by invading the kids' dreams and scaring them into committing suicide.

Phantasm
Often considered one of the icons of 1970s independent horror cinema, director Don Coscarelli's classic nail-biter follows two boys who, in pursuit of an odd-looking grave robber, may wind up as the newest members of a freshly dead slave race. Jody (Bill Thornbury) and Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) discover that the creature (Angus Scrimm) stealing cadavers walks the earth but lives in the afterworld -- and that it needs more corpses.

The Return of the Living Dead
The freshly risen undead are ready to party in this horror-comedy that finds two employees of a medical supply company unwittingly releasing several zombies from cylinders in which they've been trapped for years. Soon, the local citizenry is forced to deal with a large-scale zombie epidemic as the nasty, brain-eating creatures go on a rampage, hungry as ever and eager to make up for lost time!

Return of the Living Dead 2
What's that smell?? When a large container of top-secret, classified gas rolls off an army truck, a group of curious kids open the lid … naturally. But that turns out to be a fatal mistake, as the lethal stench soon wafts into a nearby cemetery, reanimating an army of gnarly zombies who want nothing more than to feed on the flesh of the living. Better send more paramedics!

Scream
Not your average slasher flick, Scream distinguishes itself with a cast of attractive up-and-comers and a self-parodying sense of humor. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campell) is terrorized by a murderer intent on paying homage to the teen horror classics (Halloween, Prom Night) by offing everyone Sidney knows. As in the grand tradition of popular horror films, sequels were born, along with the parody Scary Movie and its offspring.

Jeepers Creepers
A college-age brother and sister (Justin Long and Gina Philips) get more than they bargained for on their road trip home from spring break. When the bickering siblings witness a creepy truck driver tossing body bags into a sewer near an abandoned church, they investigate. Bad move! Opening a Pandora's Box of unspeakable evil, the pair must flee for their lives -- with a monstrous "shape" in hot pursuit.

Child's Play
A chubby toy doll named Chucky becomes an instrument of terror in director Tom Holland's unnerving tale of horror. Before cops gun down a serial killer (Brad Dourif), he invokes a spell that transfers his soul into the body of Chucky -- who ends up as a birthday present for 6-year-old Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent). When a rash of murders ensues, he knows Chucky is the culprit, but neither Andy's mother (Catherine Hicks) nor the police believe him.

Re-Animator
Based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft, this campy send-up follows an egotistical medical student (Jeffrey Combs) who develops a serum that revives the dead. Together with his girlfriend and his obdurate roommate, Combs reanimates a corpse but doesn't factor in certain complications that arise. Filled with equal parts laughter and gore, Re-Animator spawned a similarly outlandish sequel.

From Beyond
After inventing a way for creatures from the fourth dimension to come into his own world, Dr. Edward Pretorious (Ted Sorel) suffers a gruesome decapitation at the hands of those he brought "from beyond." But authorities suspect his assistant (Jeffrey Combs) is to blame. Barbara Crampton co-stars as a beautiful psychiatrist brought in to help police solve the case in this classic 1980s thriller based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft.

Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn
Stranded in a cabin in the woods, Ash (Bruce Campbell) and his girlfriend accidentally invoke a spell that causes the Evil Dead to rise and kill! As a lone man pitted against hordes of walking corpses, can Ash survive until the safety of sunrise? Director Sam Raimi's whip-crack direction and Campbell's comedic skills induce hair-raising fear and gales of laughter.

Hostel
Seeking out the quintessential college experience by backpacking through Europe, two American students (Jay Hernandez and Derek Richardson) befriend an eccentric Icelander (Eythor Gudjonsson) and head to a hostel that's said to be brimming with women. But once they arrive, their desires are quelled by the discovery of unimaginable horrors. Quentin Tarantino presents this grisly tale based in part on actual events, directed by Eli Roth.

Candyman
While researching urban myths, grad student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) learns about the Candyman (Tony Todd), a hook-handed creature who's said to haunt a Chicago housing project. In this creepy film based on a Clive Barker story, the Candyman is made flesh by other people's belief in him. Not surprisingly, Lyle manages to summon him. Soon, the Candyman has committed a series of murders, and the cops are holding Lyle responsible.

The Hitcher
Never pick up strangers; that's a lesson Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) will wish he'd learned. While driving from Chicago to San Diego, he picks up hitchhiker John Ryder (Rutger Hauer) but regrets it when he begins to suspect Ryder may be a serial killer. Before Halsey can say, "Get out of my car," Ryder kills again -- and frames him for the murders.

The Ring
It sounded like just another urban legend: a videotape filled with nightmarish images, leading to a phone call foretelling the viewer's death in exactly 7 days. Newspaper reporter Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) was naturally skeptical of the story -- until four teens died mysteriously one week after watching such a tape. Curious, Rachel tracks down the video and watches it … and now, she has just 7 days to unravel the mystery of the "Ring."

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Director Tobe Hooper's horror classic is a gruesome reminder that a movie need not be complicated to scare the daylights out of viewers. Sally (Marilyn Burns), her wheelchair-bound brother (Paul A. Partain) and their friends travel to a vandalized graveyard to see if their grandfather's remains are intact. En route, they come upon chainsaw-wielding maniac Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen), and it's a fight to the bloody death between good and evil.

Dawn of the Dead
Picking up where Night of the Living Dead left off, this classic horror flick from director George Romero begins with zombies taking over every major city in the United States. Running for their lives, Peter (Ken Foree), Roger (Scott Reiniger), Stephen (David Emge) and Frances (Gaylen Ross) find refuge in a remote shopping mall, only to discover they must fight a motorcycle gang as well as the undead ghouls.

Day of the Dead
The third chapter in writer-director George Romero's classic zombie film saga finds a group of scientists and soldiers hiding in an underground bunker to escape a world overrun by the flesh-eating undead. The scientists desperately seek a way to control the zombies, while the military just wants to kill as many of them as possible. But infighting between the two groups takes a backseat when the zombies invade the subterranean facility.

Night of the Living Dead
Director George Romero's low-budget horror classic continues to inspire heebie-jeebies, in part because of the randomness of the zombies' targets. As dead bodies return to life and feast on human flesh, young Barbara (Judith O'Dea) joins a group of survivors in a farmhouse hoping to protect themselves from the hordes of advancing zombies. But even with assistance in slowing down and killing zombies, soon only one person remains in the farmhouse.

The Thing
Kurt Russell leads a team of American scientists at a base in Antarctica. Their uneventful lives are disrupted by a group of Norwegians in a helicopter firing at a lone dog. When the chopper crashes, the dog moves in with the scientists. During the night, the canine metamorphoses and attacks other animals at the base and members of the team, who soon discover that an alien that can take any shape is in their midst. John Carpenter directed.

The Burning
Years after a summer camp janitor (Lou David) is severely burned and disfigured as the result of a teenage prank gone awry, he's released from the local insane asylum and returns to the scene of the crime to seek revenge against those who harmed him. Several yet-to-be-famous stars pop up in this classic teen horror flick, including Oscar winner Holly Hunter and Jason Alexander of "Seinfeld."

Freddy vs. Jason
It's the showdown horror fans have been waiting for! This slasher movie produced by Wes Craven and Sean S. Cunningham pits two of cinema's biggest, freakiest, scariest ambassadors of evil -- the nightmarish Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) and the sinister Jason Voorhees (Ken Kirzinger) -- in the ultimate face-off. It's a battle to die for -- literally! Co-stars Kelly Rowland, Jason Ritter and Monica Keena.

Children's Palace and Child World toy stores revisited

2008-09-21T19:35:00.023-05:00

Had some new Children's Palace and Child World items to share. So lets take another look at my all-time favorite toy store.

New to my collection:

A Children's Palace & Child World Ertl toy truck, in the box

Close up of the trailer

An old Child World toy truck by Majorette, on the card

An old Children's Palace toy truck by Majorette

A double page CP/CW video game ad from Marvel's Robocop II adaptation

Peter Panda puffy stickers

Some CW/CP items graciously sent in by readers

From Bernard, a former Child World employee was nice enough to take pics of some of the memorabilia he had saved.

From Brandon, an excellent shot of the old style CP store sign.

From around the web: (i.e. photos are not mine, I'm just sharing what I've found)

A Peter Panda board game

An old store pic

Former store locations around the US

So, so, so close...
In my constant search to find a photo of the old Omaha Children's Palace location, I found this great old pic of the store prior, to CP. The spot was occupied by a Handy Dan (long defunct Hardware store chain)

A must read
Here's a excerpt from a reader of the original Children's Palace post

http://geektarded.blogspot.com/2007/06/lets-go-shopping-childrens-palace.html

"Dr. Geektarded, I had the pleasure of helping to open the store in Omaha. Unfortunately, this is the only time I have ever visited your fine city. I was involved with over 20 store openings.

I also remember when they filmed "The Color of Money". We were excited that Children's Palace (CP) would be in a major movie. I recall that CP was paid $25,000 for a day of shooting for the scenes. This equated to one days average sales for that location. The "customers" in the scenes were filled in by store personnel and their families. I still watch the movie on occasion.

Dr. you ask what happened to all of the clearance items? Well, we sold them! (obviously) But here is the rest of the story: The reason why CP had so many "old" items was their "pack-away system". We would store all boxed merchandise above the area in the actual aisles of the store. All pegged items (i.e matchbox, hot wheels, seasonal) would be boxed up and stored in the warehouse. Here is where the issue happened. As the store sold down items like Matchbox cars, we would get another few cases in on our truck so we would fill the shelves with this product. The overstock Matchbox cars in the pack-aways stayed in the warehouse, never seeing the light of day. This inefficient way of stock balancing was one of the many factors to the demise of CP. Ideally, today's retailers have eliminated the back stock all together as to not tie up these dollars. I recall meeting a Matchbox collector who asked to see any unopened cases in the warehouse. He was like a kid in a candy store as he looked through the 5+ year old cases.

During the closeout procedures, we had incremental markdowns that were sent down by corporate for 10 weeks. (i.e. 10% off, 20% off) It was in the last few days that we went from 70% off to 90% off retail prices. We continuously pulled the old pack-aways out of the back room as merchandise sold down. WOW.... all of these old items came out!!! Old Mego figures (like the Spiderman you have pictured. I bought a case of 6 for 50 cents each!)Michael Jackson dolls, Starting lineup, and so on... I bought several items... but I couldn't buy them all. I still have these items MOC. I only had one child then (age 1) and boxed them up. Now, I see these items on EBAY so I never let my kids play with them. (Shame on me)

The last hour of the last day, my liquidator consultant had me put up a sign that said "Everything you can fit in your cart - only $10". Needless to say, everything was gone within the hour. I took a video camera and video taped some of the mayhem on the last day. Fortunately, I had a job lined up and was paid nearly 3 months severance/remaining vacation pay if I stayed to the end."
--------------------------------------------------------

I'm was so happy to hear about this "pack-away system". That explains all the old stock and why the aisles were literally packed to the rafters. At the Omaha location, on the shelving above the new stock, was this Tetris like packing of old boxed vehicles, playsets, etc. Then, along the back of the store was more boxed toys and aisles of carded toys. And lastly, the front entrance of the store was filled with closeout items too. Huge displays of Masters of the Universe, Voltron, Gobots, Rock Lords and the like, years after they had run their course.

The store was probably 1/3 closeout items. It was honestly a crazy way of doing business, but all those old toys are some of my fondest memories of the chain.

Netflix Picks of the Week: 9/21/08

2008-09-21T18:29:00.008-05:00

Having just recently joined Netflix, I thought it might me fun to do some mini-reviews of what shows up in the mailbox each week.

So, this week: "Diary of the Dead", "The Eye" and "The Abandoned"

Diary of the Dead

Ole' Uncle George is back to his zombie-shenanigans with a mockumentary taking place during the first few days of the zombie outbreak. There's a great deal of heavy handed social commentary on media, the internet and other tired subjects. The movie is enteteraining, but feels like it's trying too hard to force a point. But there's a few cool zombie kills and I dug the pool zombies scene.
I give at a 2.5 out of 5. Not great, but worth a look.

The Eye

An american remake of a J-Horror movie I've never watched. Jessica Alba stars as a blind violinist who appears to have a personal make-up artist on hand at all times, since she looks like she's always coming from a Cosmo shoot. Jessica gets a cornea transplant and starts seeing weird shit. So, the game's afoot to slove the ghost mystery and stop the crazy visions. Alba does a decent job and moves past the standard hot girl role. The scares are fairly run of the mill in the post Ring and Grudge era. At least there wasn't a long-haired japanese girl as the ghost, so that's something.
I give it a 3 out of 5. Entertaining, but fairly disposeable. One of Alba's better roles.

and lastly
The Abandoned

One of the After Dark "8 Films to Die For". An orphaned woman returns to Russia after receiving news of her dead birth mother and the creepy old farm she now owns. Some scary-ass shit hits the fan, a long lost twin brother shows up and undead dopplegangers shamble about. The film maintains a constant air of dread and the Russian countryside looks to be a scary, scary place.
I give it a 4 out of 5. Great, creepy ghost story.

Local Color: Random Omaha and Council Bluffs pics

2008-09-21T18:16:00.008-05:00

Downtown Omaha

The old Center Mall

The old Richman Gordmans/ Half Price Store in Council Bluffs

Old building ads

W.C. Franks sign at gas station in Council Bluffs
I have to look further into this. W.C. Franks was a local chain of arcades that served hot dogs that I used to go to all the time, from grade school through high school. The last one disappeared years ago (It's now a Nickle A Play arcade). So, I was a bit surprised when I looked up while filling the car and saw a W.C. Franks sign.

The old Florence post office.

Miiiiighty Muggs!!!

2008-09-21T18:07:00.006-05:00

The toy crack that is "Mighty Muggs" has invaded the Geektarded undersea base. It started with a Darth Vader ("I'll just buy one...") and has blossomed with every trip to the store. Star Wars, Marvel, Indiana Jones and soon Transformers and GI Joe.

-DR. G

Just a shout out...

2008-09-21T17:18:00.006-05:00

I've become a podcast junkie over the last year and one of my favorites is the Horror Etc. Podcast with Ted and Anthony. If you're a horror fan of any kind, I highly recommend the show. It's funny, insightful and the duo has turned me towards some new films. Anyway, downloads are available through their site and itunes (just subscribe, cuz it's an excellent show). Their show on shocksploitation from a couple weeks back was seriously one of the best analysis of the genre I've come across and probably one of the best film discussions I've head in years.

http://www.horroretc.com/

-DR. G

Dr. Geektarded Returns

2008-09-21T15:50:00.007-05:00

Hey, hey, hey.

It's been a long, hard summer. But, after taking some time off to catch up on some personal things, work, rest, movies, comics, games and ther assorted day-to-day nonsense, I plan to be back posting on a regular basis.

Smell ya later,
Dr. G

"Just ford the river!"

2008-07-14T20:02:00.013-05:00

I'm sure anyone born between 1970-1980 played Oregon Trail at some point during grade school. I was supposed to be educational (and it was), but it has 3 things that made it great.

1) Naming your own characters. Who wouldn't want Batman or Mr.T leading your wagon train?
2) Hunting for Food. Gun down as many animals as possible, even though you can only carry 100 lbs of meat.
3)FORD THE RIVER!!! No matter how shallow or deep, you always ford! The main purpose was to see how many in your party you could kill off and how much supplies you could loose. That's when shit got interesting. It became a survival game.

We open in Independence, Mo...

Create the ultimate Oregon Trail Wagon Train Crew

First you have to buy supplies for the trip

It's you or them. Shoot as many critters as possible.

Rivers, givers and takers of life. Ford that sucker!

30 feet deep? Screw you river! I can beat you!

Maybe not...

The carnage!

McFarty! Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!

http://actionnooz.com/news/?p=268
If you're dying to play the game again, here's a link to a "how to install" step by step that has links to the Apple emulator and the original "Oregon Trail" game.

-DR.G

Screen Cap-o-rama: "Bachelor in Paradise"

2008-07-08T14:06:00.009-05:00

Where every house has a walk-in bar in the closet

I love the mid 50s to mid 60s. The look, the designs, the colors, the stores and resturants. All the great spaceage, mid-century modern aesthetics of the postwar boom. One of the easiest ways to see the era is by watching movies (Turner Classic is great for this). It's a lost world in Technicolor.

Here's some grabs of "Hughes Market" and "Bennys Drive In" from "Bachelor in Paradise" (1961) starring Bob Hope, and Lana Turner.

Bennys Drive In (couldn't find any info online about the place)

Hughes Market in LA (Supermarket chain)

It's a fun, light comedy. It's not on DVD, but Turner Classic usually airs it every couple of months or so.

-DR.G

The Job of Tomorrow...Today! Vintage ShopKo

2008-07-06T13:12:00.007-05:00

Picked up an old ShopKo employment book from the early 70s (I think). Most of it's pretty dry, but there are a couple of pages of cool old photos. ShopKo has been a fixture here in Omaha since 1984 and they are still alive and kicking with 4 stores in the area and a 5th opening later this year.

A little ShopKo info from the Wiki:
Shopko is a chain of retail stores based in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, outside of Green Bay, behind Bay Park Square, a shopping mall featuring Shopko as one of its anchor tenants. The company employs approximately 16,000 people and has a presence in 13 states.

Shopko was founded in 1962 in Green Bay by James Ruben. From 1991 until 2005, the company was publicly held with stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SKO. In December 2005, the company was acquired by an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners and reverted to private ownership. The company generates annual sales of approximately $2.2 billion. The first Shopko store is located on 216 S. Military Avenue, in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

In 1999 Shopko purchased Pamida, a regional discount chain that operated mainly in smaller communities of three to eight thousand people. Shopko operated Pamida as a separate division until 2007, when Pamida was separated from Shopko and reestablished as a separate company.

The company operates 135 stores located in 13 states. These stores are placed in small to mid-sized communities. Such stores are multi-department operations.

Flea Market finds: Carnival Prize catalog

2008-07-06T13:04:00.005-05:00

Found this cool Acme Premium Supply Corp catalog of Carnival prizes this morning and decided to scan some of the cooler pages. The catalog looks to be from the late 60s or early 70s (There's some Peace and Mod style merchandise but no dates)

-Dr.G

Happy 4th of July and "Moments of Deliciousness" arrives

2008-07-03T23:51:00.005-05:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! To celebrate, I'm kicking off my online comic, "Moments of Deliciousness". The comics will be on the blog and Flickr and I hope to have issue #1 online later next week.

Anyway, it's been fun to work on and is nice to finally get it out into the world after putzing around with the characters for so long.

So, here...we...go

If you have trouble reading the 1 page comic, I've broken it into 3 larger pages.

-DR.G

Earl Norem's "Transformers: The Car Show Blow Up"

2008-06-14T17:00:00.009-05:00

Here is Earl Norem's artwork for the Marvel Big Looker storybook "Transformers" The Car Show Blow Up"

The book features the "Post Movie-era" Autobots and Decepticons as they try to foil Galvatron's scheme to steal a human-built "robot car" (Try not to think too much about this one...)

All in all, it's one of Norem's more low-key romps. Not a ton of action. But Kup does get captured in fine Princess Daisy-style. Also, there are some goofy Bot and Con faction symbols superimposed on the characters. I can only assume this was some last minute choice by Marvel or Hasbro. I remember as a kid thinking "Why the hell would they mess the art like that?" I'm sure product identity is the answer.

-DR.G

Earl Norem Art for GI JOE "Operation Ragin River"

2008-06-14T16:51:00.006-05:00

Here is Earl Norem's beautiful artwork for the Marvel Big Looker storybook "GI JOE: Operation Ragin River"

The book features the "Serpentor-era" Joes once again, as they try to re-take the St. Louis Arch from Cobra.

Earl Norem Art for GI JOE "Operation Star Fight"

2008-06-14T16:21:00.009-05:00

Here is Earl Norem's gorgeous artwork for the Marvel Big Looker storybook "GI JOE: Operation Star Fight"

The book features the "Serpentor-era" Joes, but they are still battling Cobra Commander (I guess it'd be pre-Serpentor...)

In a nutshell, Cobra hijacks a space shuttle, the Joes stop them. It's not Shakespeare, it sure looks incredible.

A little details that I love, and Norem does this in other books, is that the Joes aren't constantly geared up. I seemed like in the cartoons and comics, the Joes ate, crapped, watched tv, etc in vests, backpacks and helmets. Check out Airtight, Lowlight, Mainframe and Dialtone sitting around off the job at the HQ.

Another thing is the level of realistic violence. Cobra is in a firefight to take the shuttle and it looks like people are taking hits. Roadblock shoots cobra troopers. Mainframe gets winged by a bullet. The army fights back, gunning down Cobras. And the best is the fight in the shuttle as it's launching. Roadblock punches a Cobra out the open shuttle door.

It's a spectacular book, art-wise. It's GI Joe, if GI Joe was done as mid-60s pulp fiction, with a few touches of early James Bond.

-DR.G

Neglected: The Underappreciated Art of Earl Norem

2008-06-14T14:55:00.014-05:00

Norem's cover for Marvel Books' "GI JOE: The Spy Eye" (Cover artist only)

I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but scanning is one of my least favorite things to do in the world.

Scanning tons on pages in a row...I figure while everyone else in hell is pushing boulders up hills, that's what I'll be doing.

But, posting art created by Earl Norem is the duty of any fan of his work. Why, because he has gone virtually unknown. You've probably seen his work, especially if you grew up in the 80s, read comics in the 70s, or men's adventure or western magazines in the 50s and 60s.

Norem's career spans 50+ years. He's created hundreds of works of art. He's worked on well know and beloved properties like GI Joe, Transformers, Masters of the Universe, Conan and Star Wars. Men's adventure magazine, comic books, fantasy and role-playing games, Marvel magazine covers, posters, Reader Digest and Classics Illustrated. He was so prolific, I wouldn't even begin to know how to start a bibliography of his work. It's probably impossible, unless Earl himself complied it.

Norem's cover for Golden's Super Adventures Book "Masters of the Universe: The Magic Mirrors" (cover artist only)

Norem's a classic illustrator in the best possible sense of the phrase. He can bring a realism to even the most preposterous scene. His compositions are energetic and dynamic. They have an atmosphere unto themselves. He's able to boil the action down to one explosive scene, capturing a key moment in time. The paintings are like the absolute best possible scenes that you can imagine while reading a good book. Actually, a Earl Norem painting is usually better than anything your mind can conjure up.

Men's magazine interior illustration for "The Violent Five"
Look at the composition. The Hero has the girl in his arms and he flies a jet, while in the back a guy punches a guy firing a gun!

Norem's cover for Marvel Magazine's "Planets of the Apes" #21

Norem's cover of Action for Men.
Norem makes the most ludicrous situations look possible. A guy punches another off a boat with a golden babe and Go-Go Dancers in cages, all the while harpooners zip up on jet ski boats. I don't think any story could live up to that image.

How Norem's name isn't uttered in the same breath as the greats like Kirby, Steranko, Frazetta, and Eisner is beyond me.

Plans are to randomly post Norem's work on the blog. All posts will have a "Earl Norem" tag. Anyone is welcome to use my scans on their sites. My scans will have the "Underappreciated..." tag and the http://geektarded.blogspot.com/ url tag, otherwise the image is something collected online, i.e. I'm not the source and should not be credited for it. If you decide to crop the title and URL off, that's cool to. If possible post a link to the blog. Mainly I just want to raise as much awareness as possible and get Earl Norem's work online so it can be appreciated and enjoyed by everyone.

Happy Friday the 13th!

2008-06-13T21:41:00.003-05:00

Celebrate with Jason!
If you get the "Chiller" channel on cable or satellite, tune in this evening for their Friday the 13th movie marathon. They repeat it tomorrow afternoon, if you miss it tonight.

DR.G

Coloring Book Mondays Vol 1: "Shogun Warriors"

2008-06-09T23:13:00.023-05:00

I'm going to semi-regularly post some vintage coloring book pages on what will be known as "Coloring Book Mondays" Something light and breezy at the start of each week.

This week: Shogun Warriors: Starring DRAGUN!

This is an odd one, mainly because across the board, Shogun Warriors have been giant robots. Cartoons, comics and the toys all show this. But not the good folks at Whitman Publishing. Dragun is a very human-sized robot, doing normal human things when he's not occasionally fighting robot bats at the beach.

Lets take a look, shall we...

Print and color" or "save and electronically color" these until your heart's content.
-DR.G

Tag! Your it! aka "The Old Price Tag Sticker Post"

2008-06-09T22:37:00.011-05:00

I was going through a box of old stuff in the basement (kids books, coloring books, etc) and was digging on the old price tag stickers that were still on the items. You don't see too many place using them anymore (Kmart is the only place that comes to mind). As a collector of all sorts of old nonsense, I like it when they're left on. It's the history of the item boiled down to a 1" square space. And, when it's something from your youth, it triggers the memories of when you first bought the item.

It's like "Yeah, here's that GI Joe coloring book from Walgreens that was bought to keep me quite on a visit to an elderly relative in a nursing home 25 years ago."

And thanks to retaining important memories like that, now when I go to Wal-Mart to buy trash bags, I end up walking out with Night Court season 1, egg rolls and a "Tiger Force" Flint GI Joe figure instead...

Anyway, I think they're fun little reminders of yesterday; from stores long gone or still going strong.

CHILD WORLD / CHILDREN'S PALACE toy stores

Kmart

SHOPKO

TARGET

WALGREENS

1/2 PRICE STORE

I'm only one years old! Geektarded makes it a full 365 days

2008-06-01T12:59:00.017-05:00

Great Caesar's Birthday Ghost. While staring blankly at the blog, trying to finagle a way to find some time to work on entries, I noticed the "May" cover date on the logo.

Geektarded launched a year ago (Give or take a couple of days).

In a mad scramble to make some sort of 1st anniversary gesture, I've slapped together Dr. Geektarded "Top 3, Balls to the Wind, Bestest Childhood Birthdays Ever"

So, grab your goofy hats, donkey tails and "memory lane certified" walking shoes, 'cuz it's birthday time!

#3) 8th Birthday AKA "The Masters of the Universe Birthday"

Having just discovered Masters of the Universe, I was all about He-Man. He-Man Cake. He-Man hats. He-Man decorations. He-Maaaaaaaaan!

Birthday score: Mekaneck, Faker, Triclops, Buzz-Off, Jitsu, Castle Greyskull and a He-Man VHS tape

Honorable mention: Blackstarr "Neptul" monster from a neighbor girl who's parents didn't know the difference.

#2) 9th Birthday AKA "The I Discover Transformers Birthday"

Ah, turning 9 and having a birthday party at Skateland Roller Rink. It is also shortly after Transformers made their debut. I had Bluestreak, but here's were I became a junkie.

Birthday score: Optimus Prime, Iron Hide, Rachet, Starscream, Trailbreaker, Windcharger and Bumblebee.

Honorable mention: A Gobots Herr Fiend from my Aunt and Uncle who didn't know the difference.

#1) 10th Birthday. AKA 'The Transformers Gift Sets Birthday"

The Transformers Special Team gift sets are rare, highly collectible items nowadays. Well, 20 some years ago, they weren't that easy to come by either. The only time I ever saw these was at Richman Gordman, a bygone Omaha/Regional department store chain (changed to 1/2 Price Store and now they are called Gordmans) Anyway, R.G. had a great toy department and I used to buy a lot of Transformers and Super Powers there. Well, one day they have this big Transformers display of toys and sitting on top, as the crown jewels, were these huge boxed sets for the Special Teams.

What followed was weeks upon weeks of begging for one, just one set. But to now avail. They were too expensive, bla-bla-bla. I kid-lusted after these. They were all I talked about. All I thought about. They were my white whale.

Time passed and the 10th birthday approached. I think all I asked for was one of the gift sets. Superion. Devestator. Menasor. Any one of them was fine. That joyous day arrives and what do I receive? Cosmos, Warpath and a GI Joe Sticker Book... I did the forced "this is really cool" reaction, but deep down I was a little crushed. I say my "thank you's". I open a MASK Thunderhawk from a relative and we get ready for Optimus Prime cake. We were in the kitchen and I remember being asked to get something from the living room. I can't remember what, but I walked in and sitting in front of the fireplace was 2, 2!!!, gift sets. Devestator and Superion. I think my brain melted a little bit.

Thanks for checking out the blog and stick around for another year of nonsense.

-Dr.G

Indiana Jones and the Kindom of the Crystal Gayles

2008-05-18T08:46:00.006-05:00

Well, Indiana Jones 4 hits theaters next week, but the toys are out in full force.

But a word of caution to early buyers. The back of the packaging contains a massive spoiler for the surprise ending of the new film...

S
P
O
I
L
E
R

A
L
E
R
T

Aliens, time travel and some of the most blatant cross-branding in years!

Here he comes... ya' know, that guy with the car...

2008-05-01T11:30:00.016-05:00

Well, in case you've been under a pile of moist rocks, the Wachowski Brother-fueled Speed Racer hit theaters next week. Personally, I'm giddy about it. The 9th can't get here fast enough for me. I really hope it doesn't blow...

The original Speed Racer is one of my all-time favorite cartoons. Watching reruns of it is one of my earliest tv memories. Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets, Looney Tunes and Yogi Bear are the first cartoons I can remember. As a kid, I watched and re-watched Speed everyday until it went out of syndication. Years later, during junior high, came and NOW comic books and the mail order vhs tapes, which rekindled my interest. Soon, Speed Racer was popping up on Mtv and later Cartoon Network and the Speed Channel. Speed showed up in spots on ESPN, Volkswagen and Geico commercials too. Now the entire series is on dvd and a live action film is days away. Awesome.

Speed Racer started out in Japan as a comic series called "Mach Go-Go-Go". The character and look was inspired by Elvis during the racer at the end of "Viva Las Vegas" and the Mach 5 came from James Bond's gadget-filled Aston Martin. The comic quickly made the leap to animated series and was immediately snatched up by American syndicator Trans-Lux. The redubbed show was now called Speed Racer.

Tivia: Speed's name in Japan is "GO", hence the "G" on his shirt. "Go" is also the Japanese word for the number 5, the number of the car. Clever, clever.

My standing opinion on comic, cartoon and other genre films is "Well, even if the movie sucks, at least we'll get some kick-ass new toys to collect" Thanks to the new movie, there's been a flood of new Speed Racer merchandise and promotions.

But before I do the new stuff, I want to show my first Speed Racer toy, that's not actually a Speed Racer toy at all. It's the Hot Wheels "Second Wind" race car from the 70s. From what I've read, Mattel was developing a Mach 5 Hot Wheels car but didn't get the rights, so they modified it and changed the paint apps. I never knew the difference when I was little. To me it was just the Mach 5.

Now for the newy-goodness!

First is the Big Sounds Mach 5. This big ole' badboy is a bargain and a half at $19.99 (Target). It looks like it'd fit a 6" scaled figure, though I've seen none fore sale. I might have to track down on of the Speed figures they put out a few years back. Anyway, it's huge and beautiful. My only complaint is why the 2 sound buttons couldn't have been done in white plastic instead of black, so they could blend in better?

Next up are the car and figure combos. Considering I paid $8.39 for a single Indiana Jones figure at K Mart yesterday, these are a steal at $9.99 with a vehicle and action figure.

The cars have goofy action features like the March 5 shooting saw blades. (What the standard Mach 5 gadgets didn't come to mind? Pop out saws or Spring loaded auto-jacks come to mind).

But they look great and are lots of fun. If I would have had these when I was 5 or 6, I think my brain would have melted.

If you buy one, the Speed figure's helmet has these goofy looking strap-things on the helmet. Trim those suckers off with an exacto knife. It makes the figure look 100 times better and closer to the old cartoon design.

Hot Wheels cars. a decent variety. A little pricey at $3 each, but very cool. Each comes with a plastic gadget accessory that snaps on.

The reason for my being, at least for this week. The Speed Racer helmet. I love cartoon/comic/movie props. The Sword of Omens, Light Sabers, Han Solo's blaster, He-Man's sword, etc. My top 2 dream props are Speed Racer's helmet and Mark's G-Force eagle helmet. Now I'm half way there.

There are also some classic style toys out there. This 1:32 scale classic die cast Mach 5 is the steal of the year at $4.99 at Toys R Us.

In addition to all the goodies in the stores, there are some promotions. McDonald's will have Speed Racer toys starting next week. On the cereal aisle are a couple of cool things too.

Buy 2 boxes of Cookies Crisp and send $4.95 to get this cool Mach 5 cereal bowl. I'll post pics when it arrives.

And Lucky Charms has Speed Racer Turbo Cars packaged inside marked boxes. These are plastic pull-n-go toy cars. A little smaller than a Hot Wheels car and come packaged with a sheet of decals to decorate the cars.

Speed Racer pt 2: A couple of favorites

2008-05-01T11:03:00.007-05:00

This scene used to creep the bejesus outta me when I was little.
A cowboy hat wearing robot.
That spooky "varoooo" sound the X-3 makes when it approaces.
Actually it's all still kinda creepy.

"Melange still races!"

Original Mach Go-Go-Go opening

Speed Racer opening

I am so, so sorry..."Diabeetus"

2008-04-13T14:56:00.000-05:00

But I can't stop playing this
Enjoy

Sunday morning on WGN in the 80s Pt1

2008-04-06T14:37:00.010-05:00

WGN, Chicago's Superstation and America's UHF station. I think anyone who had cable tv in the 80s had WGN. It was as familiar as your own local tv channels.

Personally, I watched a metric shit-ton of WGN as a kid. They carried alot of the same shows as the local stations, offering a chance to double-up on a favorite show. (99 percent of the time they were the same exact episodes as the ones shown locally. But every once in a while, a different episode would air. It was like winning the lottery.) You also had shows that didn't air locally. Reruns that no longer aired were you lived or new shows never got picked up.

And to get to the point of all this, Sunday mornings on WGN. In the days before 24 hour a day Cartoon Networks, Toon Disneys and Nickelodeons, cartoons were a precious commodity. Saturday morning and weekday shows were a given, but Sundays, that was a different critter. My choices were usually limited to A) USA Cartoon Express (coming in a later post) and B) WGN.

So, thanks to the magic of Youtube, here is a recreation of the WGN Sunday morning experience (to the best of my ability).

WGN 1986 to 1987 Sunday Mornings

7:30 a.m. Porkey Pig

8:00 a.m. Bugs Bunny

8:30 a.m. Jem

9:00 a.m. Cisco Kid

9:30 a.m. Lone Ranger

Time for some words from our sponsors!

Sunday morning on WGN in the 80s part 2

2008-04-06T14:00:00.009-05:00

WGN 1987 to 1988 Sunday Mornings

8:30 a.m. Popeye

9:00 a.m. Visionaries

9:30 a.m. Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future

10:00 a.m. Superman

An Easter Tune (as in Looney)

2008-03-23T17:29:00.003-06:00

A classic Bugs Bunny short "Easter Yeggs", to put Easter Sunday to bed.

Thanks Easter Bunny! Bawk! Bawk!

2008-03-23T07:34:00.013-06:00

It's that magical day. You know, the one where a guy died and a couple of days later rose from the grave. They wrote a little book about it. Maybe you heard of it, it was called "Dawn of the Dead: The Official Novelization of the Feature Film"

Kidding aside, Happy Easter!

To celebrate. here's a post on my all time favorite Easter tradition, the Easter Basket.

I have always had a fascination with Easter basket; most of which stems from the big prefab ones that stores sell each year. You know deep down that they're are just filled with cheap toys and trinkets that will be broken by Sunday evening, but I'll be damned if they don't look like the Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

My parents never went in for those kind baskets. They would put together their own for us. But the results have left a lasting memory.

They always involved these components:

1) A reasonably priced toy (or 2-3 lower priced toys)

2) Jelly Beans in plastic eggs

3) Cadbury Creme Eggs

4) Chocolate Bunny

5) Two Popcorn Bunnies

(They were like a tall, bunny shaped popcorn figure with a candy eye,

tasted like a popcorn ball. Haven't seen these in a couple

of years and can not find any photos or references to them online)

Of the many Easters past, the three most memorable were

1) Getting the Baroness, Airborne and Scrap Iron;

2) Dinobot Snarl; and

3) the M.A.S.K. Hurricane with Hondo McLean.

Receiving each of those toys blew my mind at the time. I remember the GI Joes were really the first time my parents had got us "TOY" toys and not wind-up chicks or rubber bendy rabbits for Easter. And those 3 Joes set the trend for years to come. It was like a capsulized version of Christmas.

Vintage Toys R Us ads: Part 1

2008-03-23T06:26:00.004-06:00

Revenge of the Ads PREVIEW

2008-03-06T21:25:00.006-06:00

I've worked up the next round of old ads that will be accompanying various posts on some dead retailers like TG&Y, VENTURE and GIBSON'S; vintage toy ads, and other pointless nostalgia.

I've also wrangled up some mid-80s local Oklahoma City TV listings, so expect a follow up to the UHF memories post.

And, now... a sneak peak at some sexy old ads.

Kiddie City, 1972

Star Wars at Target, 1978

TG&Y, Christmas 1981 (I think)

Coleco Vision at Sound Warehouse, late 70s

ECKERD Drugs Christmas ad, mid 80s

DR. GEEKTARDED's VIDEO VAULT

2008-02-25T13:51:00.004-06:00

If you're into trading dvds of cartoons, movies, and tv shows, be sure to check out my new blog. It's just now going live and there's lots of updates to come!

DR. GEEKTARDED's VIDEO VAULT

http://geektardedvidvault.blogspot.com/

Comic Ad-O-Rama Vol 1

2008-02-24T12:32:00.018-06:00

One of my favorite things about older comics are the ads. If you were a devoted reader, some ads became as familiar as the comic characters themselves. And in those go-go pre-Internet days of the 70s, 80s and 90s, they were one of the few connections to the world at large about cartoons, comics, toys and all the other products.

I'll be posting these in a few parts, since sitting around and scanning is one of my most hated of activities. If they make a "Hostel III" and ask me to star in it, the movie would be 90 minutes of seedy European businessmen paying large sums of cash to force me to scan comics for hours on end. So, without further blah-blah-blah, Comic Ad-o-rama Vol. 1

M.A.S.K. toy ad

One of the greatest of the 80s toy/cartoon series. I still remember the exact moment that I saw this advertisement. I was skimming over the comic rack at the local Shopko while my mom looked at magazine. The mock air battle, the showcase of series 1 vehicles and figures, the idea of normal cars turning into jets. It was all perfect. I quickly made my way to the toy section and worked my best possible "toy begging face" to procure a shiny, green plastic wonder by the name of "Condor". It was the perfect toy. Cheaply priced, small enough to smuggle along on car rides, it came with a figure and a helmet that gave M.A.S.K. agent "Brad Turner" super powers. The rest is history.
GoBots model kits

I built and later used as fireworks fodder a great many of these kits.

Nestle Quick GoBots contest Ad

Voltron action figures ad

Loved these toys. A very American take on a Japanese series.

Warlord, K Mart exclusive line

Remco's answer to Masters of the Universe, a DC comic character no kid had heard of.

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Bonkers Candy Ads

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Saturday morning cartoon premier ads/New Cartoon series Ads.

These are some of my all time favorite types of ads. Childhood time capsules that charted many Saturday mornings. They also expanded my cartoon knowledge at a young age. I would would buy old comics at flea markets and garage sales and run across Saturday premier ads that would predate me. I'd see artwork for cartoons no longer airing; shows I had never even heard of at the time. I think that's how I discovered Johnny Quest, Space Ghost and some other classic cartoons.

CBS 1985
A more traditional cartoon ad that lists the shows. Luckily there's a big, shirtless Hogan to confuse boys and girls alike.

GoBots. By the way, "They're Awesome!"

Jetson and Galtar Ad

for the Sunday morning staple, The Funtastic World of Hanna Barbera

NBC 1985

A classic. I love the idea that all these characters are hanging out at the NBC studios, like they're co-workers or something.

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FHE Transformers and GI Joe VHS video ads

Say what you will about DVD boxet prices, they're a steal compared to the early days of VHS. I remember the ungodly amount of begging that had to be done in order to talk my parents into buying a $24.95 copy of "Ultimate Doom", the 3-part Transformers mini-series.

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The ad that set Captain America back at least a decade or two. Dancing around with a top hat and cane. What an asshole!

Cool Marvel merchandise, including Secret Wars

Secret Wars puffy stickers and Dorman's cheese.

Two things not on shelves anymore.

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Starriors comic book ad.

Loved these toys and bought the comic.

-----------------------------------------------

Early 80s video games ads

TRON

Advance Dungeons & Dragons

Frogger

GI Joe

Man, this double page ad was a personal favorite. Never had the game, but I sure did want it.

Mario Bros for Atari 2600 and 5200

Star Wars

I have no clue how long this ad ran or how often, but this guy is forever etched into my brain. It's like a Pavlovian reaction. I see the photo and I see myself walking out of Kwick Shop with a cherry Slush Puppie, some Mr. Melon candy and a copy of GI Joe #25

Where's the Bell Beefer?

2008-02-17T17:41:00.006-06:00

Bell Beefer. Two simple, stupid words that a great many a child of the 70s and 80s will remember fondly. For a time, it was Taco Bell's answer to the burger chainsÕ dominance of the meat sandwich market. Those simpler days when we still thought inside the bun and there was no cheesy, crunchy, runny, gummy, "Fourth Meal"

For those who never experienced the Bell Beefer or those who chose to forget it, it was this simple recipe: All the crap on a Taco Bell taco, placed on a plain hamburger bun. It was delicious. For a fair portion of my childhood years, Taco Bell was sonomimus with "I want a Bell Beefer and Pintos and Cheese cup!" I don't think I ever ate anything else until Taco Bell discountinued the Beefer.

So, in a spasm of nostalgia, I decided to try and recreate the fabled Bell Beefer from days of yor. The process is fairly simple. First, buy a package of cheap, plain white hamburger buns (The small ones that are like a package of 8 for $1.25). Second, drive to the nearest Taco Bell and order some regular or soft tacos. Also get some Pintos and Cheese as a side dish. Once you're home scoop the contents of each taco onto a bun and microwave for 10 seconds (just enough to warm the buns). Grab some Pintos and enjoy.

1. BUNS

2. TACOS

3. MEAT DUMP

4. NUKE 'EM

5. SAVOR THE NOSTALGIA

6. EAT THE BEEFER

Overall, they taste pretty much like I remember them tasting. Taco Bell's tacos haven't changed much over the years, so the flavor replicates the original Bell Beefer quite nicely. Throw in the Pintos and it's 1986 all over again. They're easy to make, so I know I will try these again. If you're too lazy or on the go, some other taco chains sell similar sandwhiches. I know Taco Johns has sold Taco Burgers for many years. But, if you're going to wallow in the past, you really can't top the original flavor of a Beefer.

So, bust out the NES roms or jump to youtube and play some USA "Night Flight" clips to set the mood and chow down on some mock Bell Beefers.

---END TRANSMISSION---
DR. GEEKTARDED

Random recent toy nonsense

2008-02-17T17:01:00.015-06:00

For years, fanboys have wondered, "Are Power Girl's breast real?" Well, the world can finally be told. No, they're fake. Big, pillowy, rubbery...hem, yes, well...

Gigantic sweater-meat aside, DC Direct continues to put out some amazingly cool, yet overpriced 13" action figures.

Silver Age Batman

Silver Age Robin

Found a decent Mego Superman at a flea market a few weeks back for $10...

And reproduction Star Trek Megos are out too!

Masterpiece Megatron

Bad-assed

New Frontier serie 2, along side series 1

Scored the rest of the new DC Universe figures this weekend.

If you build it...

New Transformers the Movie figures: Lockdown, Evac and Overcast (I think those are the names...)

Finally ran across some of the new "The Batman" JLA figs and a new Joe 2-pack with Ace and Wild Weasle

Lastly a cool Mario vinyl. The classics...

---END TRANSMISSION---

Dr. G

Something Wicked This Way Fizzes

2008-02-17T16:32:00.012-06:00

While checking out one of those new-fangled "Nostalgia Candy Shops", I stumbled across FIZZIES. FIZZIES, that space-age wonder tablet that, once added to water, creates an instant soft drink. It sounds like some real Jetsons-style shit, like food pills and a jet-car that folds up into a briefcase.

I chose "root beer" for my trial run. After I got home, carefully read the instructions and prepared myself the drink of the future: 1 tablet added to 6 oz. of cold water.

After an eternity of fizz-time, my tasty treat was ready to drink. It looked like rusty tap water, but I wasn't about to let the deter me.

The taste... HO-LEEEE Buttered DOG-ASS! Imagine pouring a half cup of flat A&W into a garbage can, letting it sit for a week in the sun, having a spider-moneky with clamidia take a pee in the can and then you add some ice and drink it. That probably still doesn't come close to how awful this was. I went back and checked the package twice to make sure I wasn't supposed to add sugar or have a priest bless it, but I had mixed it correctly.

So, FIZZIES, not the best thing I've had in my mouth. I didn't grow up with them, so I have no reference on how they used to taste. Maybe they used to be great and these new ones are crazy-messed up recipes or something. I do have to assume that the company to makes them is in fact run by the devil itself. I actually feel a little damaged by the whole affair. I'll most likely need a grief counselor of something to overcome the emotional scars left by that unholy flavor.

---END TRANSMISSION---
DR. G

The cartoon wonders of UHF & independent tv comes to Omaha

2008-01-27T10:19:00.003-06:00

The cartoon wonders of UHF and independent tv comes to Omaha (Prepare to get your nostalgia waxed...)

Omaha didn't get it's first commercial independent tv station until March 13, 1986. To most people a UHF station wasn't much to get excited about. But to a 10 year old cartoon junkie, it was a big-time.

We had moved to Omaha from Oklahoma City, OK, a town with 3 independent stations (channels 25, 34 and 43). That meant wall-to-wall syndicated cartoons, both old and new. Mornings and afternoons fed my brain a with a healthy diet of Looney Tunes, Hanna Barberra, Terry Toons, Spider-Man, Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets and others. Not to mention reruns of old sitcoms, the Batman tv series and the Adventures of Superman. All critical elements in proper development.

Imagine my shock when flopping down in front of the tv that first snowy afternoon in Omaha to find no cartoons, aside from one station showing 30 min. of Tom & Jerry shorts. The horror. Luckily basic cable was there to ease some of the pain (USA Cartoon Express, Nickelodeon, WGN, etc).

I was such a cartoon junkie that any summers or holidays spent back in Oklahoma City required my grandma saving a copy of that Sunday's tv guide from the Daily Oklahoman. This was so I could map out my "watch list". Those summers would offer a glimpse of a world missing from Omaha. Mornings and afternoons filled with He-Man, Voltron, Transformers, GI Joe, Go-Bots, Tranzor Z, Thundercats, M.A.S.K. and Robotech.

It seemed like this feast or famine cycle lasted forever. Gradually, Omaha picked up a couple of shows, He-Man and the GI Joe mini-series, but they aired at 2:30, usually missed thanks to school. But that all changed in the spring of '86 when KPTM went on the air. Finally, cartoons were on everyday. There wasn't the variety from having 3 stations like OKC, but it was pretty great.

The station had that classic UHF staple of cartoons (old and new), syndicated reruns of sitcoms and dramas and movies. Here's KPTM's schedule from the first week they were on the air:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3117/2312687478_244ac228bd_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2034/2311878117_ae8af8e568_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2159/2312687652_b58b839d68_o.jpg

KPTM became a Fox affiliate in September of 1988. The station had a good stable of syndicated cartoons through the early 90s, but gradually the Fox packaging took over. Time slots for syndicated shows shrank and you'd only find new cartoons during the early Saturday and Sunday hours when there was no Fox programming slated.

In 1998, all Fox children's programming moved the sister WB (now CW) affiliate. Now, aside from the occasional animated educational show, KPTM is a cartoon ghost town. The time slots that were home to cartoons have been taken over by infomercials and paid programming. And any sitcom reruns shown are the same ones shown on every other Fox & CW affiliate across the U.S.

I know it sounds lame, but alot of that UHF magic is gone. There is no variety on local channels. Since most local UHF stations are Fox and CW affiliates, they all have a unified look and programming. And In recent years, repetition has really taken hold on cable networks. Numerous hours of programming are now occupied by blocks of the same show. Instead of having 40 different shows throughout the day, now you might have a dozen. Scooby Doo is fun, but I don't need 6 hours of it a day.

I truly miss that wild card landscape that independent UHF stations like KPTM offered. When Bugs Bunny and Popeye were on before the sun came up. Or you'd stay up really late Saturday night and might see "The Avengers". There was something exciting to me about that variety of old shows, the chance to see something new and unexpected.

---END TRANSMISSION---

DR.G

Silver Age Comic Book treasures

2008-01-27T09:33:00.000-06:00

The Treasure of Bellevue, Nebraska.

Chuck, a friend, and fellow collector I work with was kind enough to share some old photos and stories of his hey-day as a comic collector in the late 50s to mid-60s.

Here's the basics of the story:
Chuck and a buddy of his essentially wanted to specialize in selling comic books at a time when that was unheard of. They talked to publishers about trying to buy directly from them, but were ignored since they were just a couple of kids. So, they decided to buy up every copy of every book that came out at the local grocery stores and shops and build an inventory of back issues. They collected "reading copies" and stored the surplus duplicate issues in manila envelopes for safe keeping. Years later Chuck co-collector sold off the whole collection for a thousand bucks.

They collected everything; Silver Age, old Golden Age and Pulps. There was a lot of early Marvels, silver age DC and other books from that time period. They were also big into the early comic fandom, befriending other fans and collectors. Very cool stuff. There some comics here that make my mouth water.

Most of the B&W pics are from 1963, I believe the color ones are a few years later.

A box of comics, notice the minty fresh copy of "Amazing Fantasy" #15

Four classic Superman comics, "Superman" #2, "Superboy" #1, "Jimmy Olsen" #1, and "Lois Lane" #1.

Part of the inventory.

Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #1 (They had a few of each)

More comics

And More...

And moooooreeee....

Early Tales to Astonish issues

Comic dog-pile. Notice the Sensation Comics #1 (first Wonder Woman appearance)

Visiting another fan who had been given tons of original artwork by DC during the 60s. The art is the splash page for "Brave and the Bold" #36 , by Joe Kubert (3rd Silver Age appearance of Hawkman, first Shadow Thief and early Hawkgirl). Apparently the guy they were visiting had an "in" with DC and got a ton of original art and books DC was going to toss out.

Also shown is a scan from an art auction.

Comics at another collector's house they visited.

Printer's lobby in Sparta, Ill. that put out comics and magazines.

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into early collecting.

---END TRANSMISSION---
DR.G

Moments of Deliciousness coming to Geektarded

2007-12-30T18:46:00.000-06:00

One of the main reasons the Geektarded blog was launched was so I would have a home for my "Moments of Deliciousness" comic book. From the get-go I had planned to send out finished work to publishers, but since creating the blog and seeing that it's getting some hits and growing a bit, I've decided to go the route of publishing the comic online.

"Moments of Deliciousness" is a comedic anthology starring a trio of college students, Shitboy, Birch and Fat Herbert. All 3 are roommates attending good 'ole State U, home of the "Fighting Generics".

Shitboy is basically the jerkiest jerk in the world.

Birch is our hero. A geeky, fine arts major obsessed with comics, action figures and the like.

and Fat Herbert is an unstoppable force of nature; heir to the Midwest's largest fast food chain, "Burger CHUD".

It's a world where anything goes; everything from zombies, "Happy Puppy", and homeless robots, to "Corpsey the Friendly Ghoul", superheroes and "Gaping Head-Wound Baby".

Here's a colored preview page of the first strip, to give an idea of the style of the comic.

Most stories will be short and run anywhere from comic strip size to 1-3 pages; on occasion they will be comic book length.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this sneak preview. I will start labeling the posts and you will be able to access all the comics by using the "Moments of Deliciousness" or "Comic" link on the right hand side.

More to come

-DR.G

Christmas Round-up 2007

2007-12-30T15:16:00.000-06:00

Christmas came and went pretty quick. I can't believe it was only 4 days ago. For some reason, it feels like weeks have passed. Maybe Christmas never "peeked" for me this year and the store are still filled with holiday items. Pretty much feels the same as it did in the weeks leading up to the big day.

But all in all, it was a nice day (screechy 3 year-olds aside). Got some swell loot from family and friends.

The awesomeness included:

1) A rice cooker

2 & 3) the holiday classics "Christmas Vacation" and "Silent Night, Deadly Night"

3) The Atari Flashback 1 and Flashback 2 (These kick serious ass)

4) Joker bobble-head

5) a Mcquarrie Darth Vader (Darth should have packed heat in the movies)

6) a Tie-Interceptor

7) Puzzle toys

8) CD full of Roms to add to my MAME arcade cabinet

9) The Office season 2

10) Spider-Man mini-lunchbox

Hope everybody had a great day. Feel free to post your 2007 loot in the comments section. I always like hearing what everyone got.

-DR.G

Have a merry Christmas everybody!

2007-12-24T23:26:00.001-06:00

Hope everybody has a fantastic day; gets and gives some nice gifts; eats some good food and spends some time with family and friends.

DR. G

It's Chistmas Eve...

2007-12-24T23:16:00.000-06:00

Thought I'd post a couple of festive photos.

Ole' Green and Red, hanging out on the mantle

I try to keep the Christmas decor to one spot, mainly because the house looks like a circus 364 days of the year and you wouldn't notice it if everything was spread around. It's sort of a concentrated beam of Christmasiness. Sit next to it and bask in the swellness.

The tree. This was a nice nighttime shot, but the flash makes everything look like high noon.

More Montgomery Ward: Christmas 1985

2007-12-24T22:50:00.000-06:00

Mongomery Ward Christmas Wishbook 1985 pt1

2007-12-21T22:49:00.000-06:00

There's a ton of stuff to scan, so this will be spread over a couple of posts.

1985, probably the greatest year since the concept of years was created. And the year shines in the '85 Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalog.

I've said it before, these layout are marvelous. They're not just selling a toy, they're selling a lifestyle. You can eat, breath, sleep, and crap Masters of the Universe or M.A.S.K., etc. Pure heaven.

She-Ra. I admit it. I like She-Ra. I wanted the toys as a kid to go with my Masters figures (never got any, though). I watched the cartoon. I saw Secret of the Sword. I'm not ashamed, damn it! I like Jem too...

Now to butch it up a bit with some He-Man.

Poor kid's uptight mom makes him sleep on the floor so he won't mess up the new He-Man bedding.

M.A.S.K. Again, kids forced to sleep on the floor. That, or he's spending the night at a ghost-boy's house...