tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45845870540716182352024-03-23T03:13:15.481-07:00My Life in the Glow of The Outer LimitsCraig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-68963989645824070202023-03-26T14:19:00.006-07:002023-03-26T14:26:51.582-07:00Son of a Glitch!<p>I stumbled across the following comment (left in response to my <a href="https://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2023/01/persistence-of-via-vision.html">1/08/2023 post</a>):</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpKT4QkqoyRBsehUsk00X-X9b2AbKV7eBNTdfW5DAfyXST2L793F6jp4OeJpzswqbUmEBaGq14bz9I8QB25YDAm3IMe1952U_f7kfq4qRSo2MMnuJMYyQkyOHjoGVk5Kbuc5IIINZ7WVyJqmuxDBG1PUOHyLBGusCdVX513qUQgPf-h7BJfza7DgcP/s626/Comment.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="117" data-original-width="626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpKT4QkqoyRBsehUsk00X-X9b2AbKV7eBNTdfW5DAfyXST2L793F6jp4OeJpzswqbUmEBaGq14bz9I8QB25YDAm3IMe1952U_f7kfq4qRSo2MMnuJMYyQkyOHjoGVk5Kbuc5IIINZ7WVyJqmuxDBG1PUOHyLBGusCdVX513qUQgPf-h7BJfza7DgcP/s16000/Comment.JPG" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Naturally I had to investigate.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">First I had to rip all three distinct Blu-ray versions of "The Human Factor," to see if the file sizes were different between them (depending on the size of your screen, you may need to click on the image below to read the numbers):</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyWnZiuSzux-IoduAuoZ-B1IJAtg9UUSpb5AQTlCOEqFOZW-hWACwU-WFR7XQ0TfvXReZcU9rQWOy5X90o8zvkC2AUP3ecz04pjNAjbhaUZdszizbJJ0hYd5hhYW3PqDVGKvckDVh2gXmvunxnnELpAx7WSbfzCFRUkuc6mMxhCHU-CeN422Cz93g_/s1102/Properties%20x3.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="1102" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyWnZiuSzux-IoduAuoZ-B1IJAtg9UUSpb5AQTlCOEqFOZW-hWACwU-WFR7XQ0TfvXReZcU9rQWOy5X90o8zvkC2AUP3ecz04pjNAjbhaUZdszizbJJ0hYd5hhYW3PqDVGKvckDVh2gXmvunxnnELpAx7WSbfzCFRUkuc6mMxhCHU-CeN422Cz93g_/w640-h302/Properties%20x3.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Predictably, the Mediumrare file is identical to the Via Vision file (since the former used the latter's disc masters). The Kino file (the O.G. from 2018) is slightly larger, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. The technical specs (video and audio bitrates, etc.) are identical across all three (again, you may need to click on it to actually read it):</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwyLmVE0e1rWIXKwCuy5z9-uA1IfnjqzADPBoDh_w1kxKO1y_GjP4hWX1Qv94n3cHEojHZzgoaDuJrF71CXhIIK1BMwjnbwLwXDh9g9grTW4pBU30oHVxbVtnDJfxArbMUhP69bg4FIki1xFHb7Czjh4PhpgAG84IeXeoFvX4YVXj8APhZn473zSz/s1107/Properties%20x3b.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="519" data-original-width="1107" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwyLmVE0e1rWIXKwCuy5z9-uA1IfnjqzADPBoDh_w1kxKO1y_GjP4hWX1Qv94n3cHEojHZzgoaDuJrF71CXhIIK1BMwjnbwLwXDh9g9grTW4pBU30oHVxbVtnDJfxArbMUhP69bg4FIki1xFHb7Czjh4PhpgAG84IeXeoFvX4YVXj8APhZn473zSz/w640-h300/Properties%20x3b.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Step #2 required me to spot-check each file at the 40-minute mark in question (the target section was 39:59 through 40:10). First, the Kino version from 2018:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxJ-PYMoJ0aMFLSkAcrU-g3U6vwBkXg7EiDOd09tsSxvBIMZWQ0U9cLyWfe6W1mYQMDf2E8nC6GYXnR56xMxg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p>...which looked just fine. But when I checked the 2020 Via Vision file, my fears were confirmed: there is indeed a glitch at 40:03 that affects the lower quarter of the frame (right when the desk nurse starts to speak):</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyelF0Lk8sAHTGJowbqVyG_L8ACJKCbhZd4MCOhO4iNB3T1PWEI2I68AnilOcfQvMwe6Ovy4aLganrcN5WMgQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p>Not surprisingly, the same glitch is present in the 2022 Mediumrare file:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxyWxmm3KKdmRHv4srd-eWsTrUTPvaZEBBFsqgri7I5uuhxE8BSxNDlmSM98NG19tI-_o535xdBA8y5NOII9Q' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p>So... yeah, this kinda sucks. But to put things into a bit of perspective, this is one very minor error that only lasts a second or so (this is nothing like the <a href="https://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2018/12/season-two-arrives-on-blu-ray.html">"Soldier" audio debacle</a>, which Kino ultimately fixed). If that's the only thing wrong with the Via Vision and Mediumrare editions (other than the gripes detailed previously in these pages), I'm not going to light a torch and storm the castle. I assume Via Vision did some sort of additional compression when they used Kino's masters (which may account for the slightly-smaller file size), which may have introduced the glitch (which then carried over to Mediumrare's release). But honestly---- I have no idea. This isn't exactly my area of expertise.</p><p>Thanks to "Anonymous" for bringing this to my attention.</p>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-85468619888029295672023-02-26T18:18:00.003-08:002023-02-26T18:21:22.790-08:00Promotional Consideration<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">My friend </span><b style="text-align: justify;">John Scoleri </b><span style="text-align: justify;">(who was one half of the legendary </span><a href="http://wearecontrollingtransmission.blogspot.com/" style="text-align: justify;">We Are Controlling Transmission</a><span style="text-align: justify;"> team... that's right, the ORIGINAL <b><i>Outer Limits</i></b> blog) found himself in possession of an interesting video item:</span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXsp_l7CfkgvxqT0FtOmZ882gLe4J61JpAJ1_NjjOhZjn7j9GuPsj8jJ_PQRtEKndNQoHGj5bJsS33amRSrWAE2JvGcqFNqqaD6wqho-tZF29F5UaDoRg8KsUHBUu7RzXosyCnt1XNJJLGQkOVi6_oHB-cvQ-xWJBP8GAFIk7SGSOgkJya8vS1g2Qd/s768/Tape.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="569" data-original-width="768" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXsp_l7CfkgvxqT0FtOmZ882gLe4J61JpAJ1_NjjOhZjn7j9GuPsj8jJ_PQRtEKndNQoHGj5bJsS33amRSrWAE2JvGcqFNqqaD6wqho-tZF29F5UaDoRg8KsUHBUu7RzXosyCnt1XNJJLGQkOVi6_oHB-cvQ-xWJBP8GAFIk7SGSOgkJya8vS1g2Qd/w640-h474/Tape.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">It's a promotional tape that MGM/UA sent to video retailers, pushing the 50th anniversary edition of <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> and the six <b>Outer Limits</b> episodes slated to be released in December 1989. John digitized the entire tape, and I excised the relevant portion. Check it out:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='433' height='360' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dybCLFzwyeGtkYv_rDS7qKiDw-tnznezhISptdJ1EyFA92nZcBlz4_Jtxd6GQ-72POPErgFqT-OCOwRmhGpPw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p style="text-align: justify;">The episodes being advertised ("<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/11/episode-spotlight-corpus-earthling.html">Corpus Earthling</a>," "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/12/episode-spotlight-it-crawled-out-of.html">It Crawled Out of the Woodwork</a>," "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/12/episode-spotlight-tourist-attraction.html">Tourist Attraction</a>," "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/02/episode-spotlight-bellero-shield-2101964.html">The Bellero Shield</a>," "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/04/episode-spotlight-feasibility-study.html">A Feasibility Study</a>" and "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/01/episode-spotlight-dont-open-till.html">Don't Open Till Doomsday</a>") brought the total number of released episodes (at that point) to 24, exactly half of the entire run. Coincidentally, these were the final six tapes I bought. As I detailed <a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2022/10/bare-dem-bones.html">in my article</a> in the Spring 2021 issue of <b><i>bare</i>•bones</b> (published by the aforementioned John Scoleri's Cimarron Street Books), I was 20 years old at the time, newly living <i>sans</i> parents and struggling to pay the bills... so pre-recorded videotapes really couldn't compete with necessities like food and electricity. So while I did eventually acquire most of the later 24 volumes through, ahem, unsavory means (mostly copying rented tapes, but I did snag some episodes from the TNT MonsterVision marathons too), these six mark the point at which my official licensed collection ended. Of course, I later amassed a complete collection with lots of duplicates (after starting this blog, in fact).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This video is actually quite similar to the one found on the VHS editions of "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/10/episode-spotlight-demon-with-glass-hand.html">Demon with a Glass Hand</a>," "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/12/episode-spotlight-zanti-misfits-12301963.html">The Zanti Misfits</a>" and "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/12/episode-spotlight-keeper-of-purple.html">Keeper of the Purple Twilight</a>," which I posted as part of my "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/10/episode-spotlight-demon-with-glass-hand.html">Demon</a>" spotlight way back in October 2014 (!). I tried like hell to put a direct link to it here, but evidently my computer Kung Fu ain't what it used to be, so use either "Demon"-specific links earlier in this paragraph to check it out (you'll find it in the <b>Home Video Releases</b> rundown).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Thanks for the video, John!</p>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-54902609772969518142023-02-26T16:21:00.007-08:002023-02-26T16:27:00.150-08:00THE OUTER LIMITS from Mediumrare: Well Done, or Half Baked?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM_P3ov39oSz53CMmCqcGIH-p39Hbu44kFJqDllLVwlkF-5jo91N-RlvYQIHnPXnj8rLXQVuN1n4UYZdh-4bbmIR8bek3IIb8al86aQDw-7gtr9N7smhzooV4VNKmW4MZvn0KKF9MtiXXYMEE0xFYzV4NVLiaovKmAAlsK1a141-9Xq31F2_kFMxmC/s8051/20230107_155239.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4986" data-original-width="8051" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM_P3ov39oSz53CMmCqcGIH-p39Hbu44kFJqDllLVwlkF-5jo91N-RlvYQIHnPXnj8rLXQVuN1n4UYZdh-4bbmIR8bek3IIb8al86aQDw-7gtr9N7smhzooV4VNKmW4MZvn0KKF9MtiXXYMEE0xFYzV4NVLiaovKmAAlsK1a141-9Xq31F2_kFMxmC/w640-h396/20230107_155239.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left: DVD (slipcase front). Right: Blu-ray (slipcase front).</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;">Goodness, time's gotten away from me. I intended to post this back in early January... but my latest Blu-ray audio commentary project (for a feature film that I still can't mention) had a deadline, so I had to focus on that. I managed to get it done and submitted a couple of weeks ago but, as it turns out, my work on that particular release isn't quite finished---- I've been given the green light to produce a documentary featurette to accompany it (similar to the ones I produced for the <i><b>Night Gallery </b></i>Blu-rays). I've also got another classic TV commentary assignment coming up (which I also can't reveal yet). So... yeah, my March is gonna be busy. But for anyone out there who's been patiently waiting for details on Mediumrare Entertainment's <i><b>Outer Limits</b></i> DVD and Blu-ray releases from December... sorry for the delay. I'll, um... refund your money or whatever.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span></span><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: justify;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITrZEWubkdax4xROKpcwcA9TKACm-IiewyXicmY7sqTekJaIWa9MuPeGleeuVleZ_VnD-LU8dz_IbkU-fQDwE6nsmZjXScv58MHBCvSbew-ZEgAnM-s5682ycOZNQYv4kzcd0FILukwf39xb2W7cdDteriwnvA12-IsCd4KEGt6u5OXyQoQF1taDU/s7811/20230107_155249.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4559" data-original-width="7811" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITrZEWubkdax4xROKpcwcA9TKACm-IiewyXicmY7sqTekJaIWa9MuPeGleeuVleZ_VnD-LU8dz_IbkU-fQDwE6nsmZjXScv58MHBCvSbew-ZEgAnM-s5682ycOZNQYv4kzcd0FILukwf39xb2W7cdDteriwnvA12-IsCd4KEGt6u5OXyQoQF1taDU/w640-h374/20230107_155249.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left: DVD (slipcase back). Right: Blu-ray (Slipcase back).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><span></span><p style="text-align: justify;">First up---- the Blu-ray version. Happily, <b>ALL</b> of the content from the Via Vision effort from 2020 is here, including the exclusive content (detailed in <a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2023/01/persistence-of-via-vision.html">my previous post</a>). There's nothing new, however---- so that "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/12/episode-spotlight-tourist-attraction.html">Tourist Attraction</a>" track that Dave Schow and I did, along with the new track for "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/12/episode-spotlight-it-crawled-out-of.html">It Crawled Out of the Woodwork</a>" by Tim Lucas (both detailed <a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2022/10/alternate-timelines-and-rubber-monsters.html">here</a>) will languish in silence... for now.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">So should you spring for it? Well, it's a helluva lot cheaper than the Via Vision version (not to mention much easier to acquire), and it's the only game in town if you want those exclusive commentaries and stuff. However (and this is a fairly critical <i>however</i>)--- you <b>must</b> be multi-region equipped, as Mediumrare's set is locked to Region B. I bought my first multi-region player about 10 years ago, and lemme tell ya--- it was life-changing. There are a couple of other caveats, which we'll get to in a bit.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHUVXc4V2BjyyTQ5QMzAr7Vx7GBVvDEH-NGbVIng2oogTZbXQ4U-GBZPzC-qvTqFlUlPCT0f13KjWAkPb_A7hwXLmSQZzIhiNz7HxQgEXzQhmyoP5WLm49rdSM6r9I0jemAgDyyqj2STrKbNmXBibiQ3b5DNSql7Kjw02PRA26-WTpAOqJZTMovRmf/s7688/Disc%2014b.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4603" data-original-width="7688" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHUVXc4V2BjyyTQ5QMzAr7Vx7GBVvDEH-NGbVIng2oogTZbXQ4U-GBZPzC-qvTqFlUlPCT0f13KjWAkPb_A7hwXLmSQZzIhiNz7HxQgEXzQhmyoP5WLm49rdSM6r9I0jemAgDyyqj2STrKbNmXBibiQ3b5DNSql7Kjw02PRA26-WTpAOqJZTMovRmf/w400-h240/Disc%2014b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>On the standard-definition side of things, Mediumrare's DVD release is... well, interesting. The first 13 discs essentially mimic the Via Vision and Kino releases, but then they throw in a 14th disc with lots of extras that are otherwise only found on the Blu-rays (including some of those Aussie-exclusives you won't find on the domestic releases). Also on that 14th disc are <i>Please Stand By</i> (the original pilot) and <i>The Unknown</i> (the alternate version of "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/05/episode-spotlight-forms-of-things.html">The Forms of Things Unknown</a>") along with their attached commentaries. In fact, with this DVD edition, you get everything except the three exclusive Blu-ray commentaries and:<p></p><p style="text-align: center;">Cliff Robertson – Full TNT Interview (36:00)</p><p style="text-align: center;">Joanna Frank – Full TNT Interview (21:02)</p><p style="text-align: center;">Casting Director Meryl O'Loughlin - TNT Interview (23:44)</p><p style="text-align: center;">Interview with Writer Anthony Lawrence (9:13)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHQdKybGrOsBwsDvaQ9krr6_N9vAK4M6HOHvRo3dAHyqVTaqWssIqOITA42nClTSaR4nU4_Jb7GonzvHvLo8Xz4NunocBu6crv35kRdcdSlw52iIble8Bg3996Xf9ypS_5avS2T-oOJJcwkacaJ3TPEIEX1W3FSsrGhFNUiFsBd7MVuzhPfr4P01xt/s8067/20230107_154656.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5095" data-original-width="8067" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHQdKybGrOsBwsDvaQ9krr6_N9vAK4M6HOHvRo3dAHyqVTaqWssIqOITA42nClTSaR4nU4_Jb7GonzvHvLo8Xz4NunocBu6crv35kRdcdSlw52iIble8Bg3996Xf9ypS_5avS2T-oOJJcwkacaJ3TPEIEX1W3FSsrGhFNUiFsBd7MVuzhPfr4P01xt/w640-h404/20230107_154656.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">It's that 14th disc that pushes Mediumrare to the front of the pack on the DVD front. However, its packaging is by far the most disappointing: a flimsy cardboard slipcase and one big fat plastic inner case (with those horrific hinged stacked-disc page-flippers inside). I wasn't surprised by this, truth be told... but I was shocked to discover that their Blu-ray (which again matches Via Vision's in terms of content) has <b>THE IDENTICAL SHITTY PACKAGING</b>. In fact, it's even the <i>exact</i> same size, but the sleeve art is smaller because apparently the Blu-ray logo has to be visible due to some Draconian BDA (Blu-Ray Disc Association) requirement.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmfgQMA5MgavAf-drXQHT1UEHmg_5-uO2kRKMRA0wo0e0gSCtDmyBBV0-sDJqZqh7JS5aGeMLkza369ynPwxCedB7WauerPPsiaCfAKxXJ6iibGijvq_UdidjAX0ixv7j1a8hl8KCKk6UOok9xfFZ0WDqeNzXLhaeQj4hi4dhSN5vlrjDd2ArZhHJ1/s7280/20230107_154747.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4555" data-original-width="7280" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmfgQMA5MgavAf-drXQHT1UEHmg_5-uO2kRKMRA0wo0e0gSCtDmyBBV0-sDJqZqh7JS5aGeMLkza369ynPwxCedB7WauerPPsiaCfAKxXJ6iibGijvq_UdidjAX0ixv7j1a8hl8KCKk6UOok9xfFZ0WDqeNzXLhaeQj4hi4dhSN5vlrjDd2ArZhHJ1/w640-h400/20230107_154747.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left: DVD (inner case front). Right: Blu-ray (inner case front).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p>One more gripe, if you'll permit me: there are NO booklets to be found in either edition. All you get is a basic list of the episodes on the reverse of the case insert... which means you have to take several discs out just to see it (or I guess you can just jimmy out the insert--- like I did; see below--- but who wants to do that every time?). And even then, there's no way to know who's providing commentary on which episodes... you have to load up the disc to find out for yourself. Boo. I'm still planning on posting a comprehensive list of everything at some point... just gotta find the time.<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT6D2WGbEIfa_dwURapcdvm_XOiPtY_F2MZFcvo3E_BqiW50Z1EHIUw2lDj7vrs0dExJkB3SRDACndauYij1LzkjYN6bQRHReUbA7AD_zvUYQDHCW_3uHQ5lNv7MhXdb0CNZAzNpx5DFtVFeUuyu7pMU_QF97k8Z9Gp0oPYN-VjMRCh4Q398yFvMxN/s7712/20230226_155307.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4816" data-original-width="7712" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT6D2WGbEIfa_dwURapcdvm_XOiPtY_F2MZFcvo3E_BqiW50Z1EHIUw2lDj7vrs0dExJkB3SRDACndauYij1LzkjYN6bQRHReUbA7AD_zvUYQDHCW_3uHQ5lNv7MhXdb0CNZAzNpx5DFtVFeUuyu7pMU_QF97k8Z9Gp0oPYN-VjMRCh4Q398yFvMxN/w640-h400/20230226_155307.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><p style="text-align: justify;">But it's what's inside that really counts, yes? What Mediumrare has done is made the contents of the unobtainable Australian Blu-ray available to the world, and bested all the other DVD releases at the same time.... that is, if you've got a multi-region player (or live in Region B). Other than the cheap packaging (and the region-locking, and the lack of booklets), they do deserve some measure of kudos.</p><p>But for me, Via Vision's Blu-ray set (in that glorious hard box) is still the one to beat. I've said it before: 2023 is the show's 60th anniversary, so there's still time for any of these three labels---- or perhaps some fourth as yet unknown entity--- to do something even more spectacular. Dave Schow and I (and our Commentary Crew cohorts) still have lots to say in the form of audio commentaries, and I'd love the opportunity to put together a video featurette on the home video history of the show too.</p></div>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-46364541415380206312023-01-08T14:56:00.007-08:002023-01-08T16:55:42.701-08:00Persistence of (Via) Vision<p style="text-align: justify;">I now have the UK-exclusive <b><i>Outer Limits </i>Complete Series</b> (both Blu-ray and DVD) sets from Mediumrare Entertainment in hand; however, that's not what today's entry is about. Before we explore those, I want to back up a step and give the 2020 Australian releases from Via Vision a bit more attention.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As previously reported, the Via Vision Blu-ray improves on Kino's 2018 effort in terms of both content and packaging. Let's hit the packaging first: The set is comprised of two Blu-ray cases (one for each season) and a lavish booklet, nestled rather tightly inside a gorgeous hard outer box.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjocZRMvc7in9Kn7jxpp-ak9D6Qut1rwRgNdSrKSkaxC7JziGwOqdPS0OlOzjAqNosvHmuIf-i9oHoj0yJJXhOlgi6fKDE7k2WKDMdt1emW7tdTGzEvbvM1LAts8gc8FIwfnfxEdMFtrt7h6hFsD_m3Fsg6iaB_b4nuJi_C_b5Q3zZVWkyQhO_ttOo7/s10392/Hardbox%20Duo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6261" data-original-width="10392" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjocZRMvc7in9Kn7jxpp-ak9D6Qut1rwRgNdSrKSkaxC7JziGwOqdPS0OlOzjAqNosvHmuIf-i9oHoj0yJJXhOlgi6fKDE7k2WKDMdt1emW7tdTGzEvbvM1LAts8gc8FIwfnfxEdMFtrt7h6hFsD_m3Fsg6iaB_b4nuJi_C_b5Q3zZVWkyQhO_ttOo7/w640-h386/Hardbox%20Duo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">'Rather tightly' is an understatement. It's SUPER tight in there. But look at that box! There are obviously more iconic aliens/monsters to choose from, but given how brilliantly successful this turned out, I don't mind seeing <a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/search/label/Ikar">Ikar </a>there at all. It's a classy job through and through. Sorry Kino, but those clunky digipacks can't touch this.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx1l2oDpkQt9t2Km3ML6fEyYM6ZuRnyIuhsxNJfgS-HJMA322jTRfNbf9vnpcz8f-g8jcjEo011GTrIfgpT_7BB9rPvp2nnckr6BXTvbk6wm4u3qyA9n4noPF89hUymwXGNJKXe8-EJELIhT3nuF5nk8qLXipvzKXuf4GzL0aIxi8NBxhQcAJLP3sB/s13577/Case%20Duo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5031" data-original-width="13577" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx1l2oDpkQt9t2Km3ML6fEyYM6ZuRnyIuhsxNJfgS-HJMA322jTRfNbf9vnpcz8f-g8jcjEo011GTrIfgpT_7BB9rPvp2nnckr6BXTvbk6wm4u3qyA9n4noPF89hUymwXGNJKXe8-EJELIhT3nuF5nk8qLXipvzKXuf4GzL0aIxi8NBxhQcAJLP3sB/w640-h238/Case%20Duo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">But it doesn't end there. Via Vision's effort includes all the bonus content from Kino's releases and augments the package with a number of new, exclusive extras:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Audio commentary on "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Hundred%20Days%20of%20the%20Dragon">The Hundred Days of the Dragon</a>" by Tim Lucas</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Audio commentary on "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/09/episode-spotlight-architects-of-fear.html">The Architects of Fear</a>" by David J. Schow</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Audio commentary on "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/10/episode-spotlight-man-who-was-never.html">The Man Who Was Never Born</a>" by Craig Beam</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>THE UNKNOWN UNKNOWN audio essay by David J. Schow </b><b>(regarding a newly-discovered early draft of Joseph Stefano's "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/05/episode-spotlight-forms-of-things.html">The Forms of Things Unknown</a>")</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>The First Control Voice (early radio spots by Leslie Stevens)</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Season Two original ABC commercial spot</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Seasons One & Two photo gallery</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>60 PAGE BOOKLET featuring essays by David J. Schow and episode guide</b></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSymyURZCfynySDt7EYauwTbqnpqpDYAPN2X3i_G_Q5PFC0Jnk-h3iKzEyK7BdQvmkceXekL3SnMhVLbnQ21sgRNtKNyGuFvKYKB3CfZw21T2xx6GgCgUReKf02IslEWaPFdf3anq1vQpgV_DkNlcLFB4LJEZb8iUMDQE1JrQHfxBUqYlzSepho77x/s14688/Booklet%20duo.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5505" data-original-width="14688" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSymyURZCfynySDt7EYauwTbqnpqpDYAPN2X3i_G_Q5PFC0Jnk-h3iKzEyK7BdQvmkceXekL3SnMhVLbnQ21sgRNtKNyGuFvKYKB3CfZw21T2xx6GgCgUReKf02IslEWaPFdf3anq1vQpgV_DkNlcLFB4LJEZb8iUMDQE1JrQHfxBUqYlzSepho77x/w640-h240/Booklet%20duo.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The booklet, which is essentially both the Kino Blu-ray booklets smooshed together.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBQzXPLdCUiawWSmAIrfaZPLdSr8HVdX8HvF5Ert4uuS3lCOWv2pSfzWvKYJKBy4iwb63WcG6k0OPMg1BeBa5z7d5fNQHzbHRJaz7EdytqAhFagN8M0SV2Di-MVh0UBHkJ9klrf86SBxxIQUXNm41Uyo_88U3aMyIl-eh3xtBltXaiRuXqQTusjAN/s4638/20230107_163625.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3730" data-original-width="4638" height="514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBQzXPLdCUiawWSmAIrfaZPLdSr8HVdX8HvF5Ert4uuS3lCOWv2pSfzWvKYJKBy4iwb63WcG6k0OPMg1BeBa5z7d5fNQHzbHRJaz7EdytqAhFagN8M0SV2Di-MVh0UBHkJ9klrf86SBxxIQUXNm41Uyo_88U3aMyIl-eh3xtBltXaiRuXqQTusjAN/w640-h514/20230107_163625.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ikar's head extends to the top of the case. Adorable.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">In 2020, the Via Vision Blu-ray release was far and away the single greatest release of the series in the history of home video. I never bothered to get the DVD edition (despite my pathological completist nature), an oversight that I finally rectified about a month ago. I assumed that it would come in a similar hard outer box (though it certainly wasn't advertised as such), so the flimsy slipcase that greeted me when I opened the package was admittedly a bit of a disappointment. It's the same exact design, which I do like, but... it still feels cheap (I guess Ikar's head isn't nearly as impressive if you can't pull it off).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4wkGmSNBqCxbrdlh7iYYqBNOQHKyu7HCYiC12gsnUWCdG6aKiMWXBM8vgpt6UZLbX8852k4XyV3AZ7Z45MEMAqJq3ZsN904eHiX-55_DPfcpnF1bLjGseUR26oZmyqSTBoreL7PcLN13_Cfoyd2jXjaxDuVvPj7ew6d_rIFrSDMGnvcKC97FRPN1W/s7656/20230107_155348.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5162" data-original-width="7656" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4wkGmSNBqCxbrdlh7iYYqBNOQHKyu7HCYiC12gsnUWCdG6aKiMWXBM8vgpt6UZLbX8852k4XyV3AZ7Z45MEMAqJq3ZsN904eHiX-55_DPfcpnF1bLjGseUR26oZmyqSTBoreL7PcLN13_Cfoyd2jXjaxDuVvPj7ew6d_rIFrSDMGnvcKC97FRPN1W/w640-h432/20230107_155348.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The real shocker for me was the discovery that all that exclusive content found on the Blu-ray edition (including my new commentary for "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/10/episode-spotlight-man-who-was-never.html">The Man Who Was Never Born</a>") is NOT present on the DVD version. Further, all the Blu-ray content that Kino didn't include in their 2018 DVD* is also missing here (so, basically, this is a clone of Kino's DVD effort). While Kino included a booklet with both the Blu-ray and DVD releases of Season 1, only the Season 2 Blu-ray came with a booklet (and, as previously reported, their 2022 Blu-ray reissues omit the booklets entirely). The Via Vision Complete Series DVD is similarly lacking a booklet, so no proper episode guide is included. The episodes are listed on the reverse of the case inserts, so at least you can see where to find each episode, and asterisks are employed to denote which episodes feature audio commentaries... but that's it. Who did the commentary for "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/12/episode-spotlight-12021963.html">Nightmare</a>," you ask? You'll have to load up the disc to find out (spoiler alert: it's not me, and his initials are DJS). </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihlQ0keraX56qYifyGAhx9Lx5hw7cDxZcPwKetbtmdr6qzcFxo9FR4G_w4h-IOD5oMhxyfc5HcXl5RVlmCNaWtEvl4O1TLviirbmLQYYttYGeWqsD1jeSvyHk7aaka7Eaixme6MIJehs_u6hHfp_3fre5SuDxfLZKgw6TIVCQpVshAt_nKPEdX3vFh/s9244/Outer%20Case%20Duo.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6481" data-original-width="9244" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihlQ0keraX56qYifyGAhx9Lx5hw7cDxZcPwKetbtmdr6qzcFxo9FR4G_w4h-IOD5oMhxyfc5HcXl5RVlmCNaWtEvl4O1TLviirbmLQYYttYGeWqsD1jeSvyHk7aaka7Eaixme6MIJehs_u6hHfp_3fre5SuDxfLZKgw6TIVCQpVshAt_nKPEdX3vFh/w640-h448/Outer%20Case%20Duo.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Left:</i> spines. <i>Right:</i> Um... the other side. The opposite of spines. Anti-spines?</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: right;"><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPb5hCr-tWzHfKbIxfkjRU1aaq0-aGC4C5huzrPpIfTnszxWQRZe9ktU-dvMaCFQNioseuhyimlmWvYGRHh25wSIGJ9_q87uJFfsu0gECVdJO3v3cUMJfzQKgg-zzC_yV49MJObbX4K4w159uju4akwF-KJC2WfjC7lqVqMlwUsxzP57xJyCo0-g_4/s1238/Heads%20Duo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="1238" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPb5hCr-tWzHfKbIxfkjRU1aaq0-aGC4C5huzrPpIfTnszxWQRZe9ktU-dvMaCFQNioseuhyimlmWvYGRHh25wSIGJ9_q87uJFfsu0gECVdJO3v3cUMJfzQKgg-zzC_yV49MJObbX4K4w159uju4akwF-KJC2WfjC7lqVqMlwUsxzP57xJyCo0-g_4/w640-h358/Heads%20Duo.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: center;">Hey! I just thought of a hilarious idea: they should've used the image of one of Ikar's soldiers on the DVD to further differentiate the two. It's especially appropriate since, like the DVD version, the soldier is taller and dumber.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPtT1rPrcqXOKgzC7wtt3BhQvi4qe4GMETGfb2Iiw0PKYO7mG5B6tNemMdhVOmFGQW7CCCyX37iVFazuyROxnWjVSOxosVr9KQPNOSjIs6Ttm1jSEqgs-dJiRL5cdEvbLhCxE9yHt92JzYcjtfb27T9IFrxoDas3L6IikmN7sTvfThPDpiBYb0c-c2/s14089/Case%20Duo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6947" data-original-width="14089" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPtT1rPrcqXOKgzC7wtt3BhQvi4qe4GMETGfb2Iiw0PKYO7mG5B6tNemMdhVOmFGQW7CCCyX37iVFazuyROxnWjVSOxosVr9KQPNOSjIs6Ttm1jSEqgs-dJiRL5cdEvbLhCxE9yHt92JzYcjtfb27T9IFrxoDas3L6IikmN7sTvfThPDpiBYb0c-c2/w640-h316/Case%20Duo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">So while Via Vision's Blu-ray edition is (or at least <i>was</i>, in 2020 when it was released) the gold standard of <b><i>The Outer Limits</i></b> on home video, their corresponding DVD edition is unfortunately... well, nothing special. Via Vision's efforts represent both ends of the spectrum: the best Blu-ray, and the worst DVD. You'd be better off just getting the Kino DVDs from 2018, since at least you'll get a booklet with Season 1.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">But c'mon. It's 2023. Why buy DVD at all when you can enjoy the series in high definition on Blu-ray? It boggles my mind that DVD is still a thing, especially since it's been superseded by superior formats twice (Blu-ray and, more recently, 4K UHD). But apparently DVD is *still* the highest-selling home video format.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM7f2CDb8fqIiHwtbvorqxL7aABgL98TsjquoATqiwCvoPnXA3qEpstBoenx_eDkBzYA2cUiVIIUMQXgSfunnRd6evbaN8IHnzgt2iaCL1_lNBiPijtPaTsrnGJTNOWNXC2I4b_fLJpxryBsweX614g1rtUwdnqWhg2RuYRrhYW9gblu3SASAIdmw2/s2501/Pie%20Graph.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1460" data-original-width="2501" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM7f2CDb8fqIiHwtbvorqxL7aABgL98TsjquoATqiwCvoPnXA3qEpstBoenx_eDkBzYA2cUiVIIUMQXgSfunnRd6evbaN8IHnzgt2iaCL1_lNBiPijtPaTsrnGJTNOWNXC2I4b_fLJpxryBsweX614g1rtUwdnqWhg2RuYRrhYW9gblu3SASAIdmw2/w640-h374/Pie%20Graph.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is particularly bizarre since virtually ALL televisions sold are either high definition (1080p) or 4K. A helluva lotta people are either still using 20+ year-old TVs or they just don't care how things look. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">What REALLY kills me is that the Via Vision Blu-ray (again, the single greatest home video release of the series ever) was strictly limited to 1,500 units, and they sold out pretty fast (I tried to track down a second backup copy recently, and I couldn't find one anywhere---- not on eBay, not on Australian eBay, not on Australian Amazon, not on Via Vision's website, nowhere. They're just gone, baby, gone. There are rumors that they may be doing a second run at some point this year (which would make it a 60th anniversary release, so hopefully they present it as such if it happens), but for right now---- if you don't have the Australian Blu-ray, you're outta luck.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Shortly after Kino released their 2022 Blu-ray reissues (which deleted the booklets but switched from digipacks to standard cases), UK-based Mediumrare Entertainment announced that they'd be releasing a Complete Series Blu-ray and DVD of their own in December 2022. With the Via Vision Blu-ray out of print and unattainable, the immediate and obvious question was: would the UK release simply replicate the original Kino effort, or would it include the exclusive Australian content? And, perhaps even more importantly, would it include anything new?</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I guess I already answered that last question in a previous entry (no, there's no new content). But as to the content that <i><b>is</b></i> there.... well, stay tuned. Will the Brits dethrone the Aussies? All will be revealed... soon.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">* I don't think I've ever mentioned in these pages that Kino's Season 2 DVD is missing several bonus features found on the corresponding Blu-ray. I'm planning a comprehensive post detailing ALL of the bonus features across all the various home video releases soon.</p>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-74667271379431790312022-12-03T18:35:00.004-08:002022-12-11T10:41:00.103-08:00In die Nachtgalerie...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX0ukFzMqSTTdMViIIhQ5056e6I5GKo20Tz-JBAuwJF62HlbMLCVPBkpLvXrTMd1NwMFR5_jKPxFctjxcC2ro3xG8vEeSVe1a_b3YonGo3oUWje0vtVeiRsc0s6R6NKEbpgsYt1WUxj3LqoP1tJG1pjXIATQ3t7KpnVfnkDM7WctdvPt4-uXFg2AKw/s468/Kolchak.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="366" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX0ukFzMqSTTdMViIIhQ5056e6I5GKo20Tz-JBAuwJF62HlbMLCVPBkpLvXrTMd1NwMFR5_jKPxFctjxcC2ro3xG8vEeSVe1a_b3YonGo3oUWje0vtVeiRsc0s6R6NKEbpgsYt1WUxj3LqoP1tJG1pjXIATQ3t7KpnVfnkDM7WctdvPt4-uXFg2AKw/s320/Kolchak.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">Kids, let me tell about the time I almost got to do a Blu-ray audio commentary for <b>Kolchak: The Night Stalker.</b> <i>Almost</i>. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">March 2021: word came down that a Blu-ray release of the complete <i>Kolchak</i> was in the works (the two telefilms that preceded the series had already been released by Kino Lorber in 2018, so this release would cover the 20 regular series episodes that followed). I was alerted by David J. Schow (who’d already been tapped to contribute) that Kino was commissioning audio commentaries for all twenty episodes... and there were a few still available. To say I was elated would be an understatement, as I assumed my commentary work on the <i>Outer Limits</i> Blu-rays represented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">But here’s the thing--- whenever Kino notifies its usual stable of commentators that a new TV release is brewing, a mad flurry of emails is unleashed in which everyone voices their assignment preferences. As I recall, I was a bit slow to respond because--- I’m a bit embarrassed to admit--- I wasn’t that familiar with the show, so I had a brief argument with myself regarding whether or not I could actually deliver something worthwhile. By the time I’d thrown caution to the wind… all the episodes were spoken for. We’re only talking a couple of hours here… these things play out like a shark frenzy when a drop of blood hits the water. So I missed my shot, which was admittedly disappointing. I had no time to mourn the loss, however, because that same day, Kino told me that they would be tackling <b>Rod Serling’s Night Gallery</b> next… and that I would be welcome to participate. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Many of you are aware that I was a <i>Twilight Zone</i> fan(atic) long before I discovered <i>The Outer Limits</i>... in fact, I think of it as my classic TV first love. The thought of actually contributing to Blu-ray releases of the next best thing (remember, it’s the closest thing to a Serling-created sequel that TZ would ever get) was positively mind-blowing. Yeah, I forgot about the whole Kolchak thing real quick. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_LzTGp7G23Kjx2M21etqHbvMr69ROmQRYr8hsf561FMIJPInTF-kPNJwAUPCD394TSicqZ6g9mwc22oor8f9m9xV0Ho08z92eqv73MAzcl5T5HYkvfmpvY-S3QrqJlXT_tldWhLoQJUfgoULpkqERL_T9NZmgI3AXvqf_AVrE6RbSl1Oh1Ey6GBz6/s500/41b-bo780fl-_sx500_.webp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_LzTGp7G23Kjx2M21etqHbvMr69ROmQRYr8hsf561FMIJPInTF-kPNJwAUPCD394TSicqZ6g9mwc22oor8f9m9xV0Ho08z92eqv73MAzcl5T5HYkvfmpvY-S3QrqJlXT_tldWhLoQJUfgoULpkqERL_T9NZmgI3AXvqf_AVrE6RbSl1Oh1Ey6GBz6/w400-h300/41b-bo780fl-_sx500_.webp" width="400" /></a></div><i>Night Gallery</i>’s first season is short--- just the pilot movie and six episodes--- so the most I could hope for would be one episode (remember, the show was an anthology-within-an-anthology, so each episode contained multiple stories). I immediately requested the season-ender that contained Serling’s “They’re Tearing Down Riley’s Bar,” certain that I had no shot given its iconic status (it may be the single best-remembered episode in the entire series or, at the very least, equal in stature to immortal classics like “The Caterpillar” and “Cool Air”). I mean, it’s not like I had anything to lose, right? The worst that could happen is that they’d laugh hysterically and give me “Make Me Laugh” (one of the crappiest installments of the season; hell, of the entire series). On the other hand--- I (li’l ol’ me) had already covered multiple immortal <i>Outer Limits</i> classics (“<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/11/episode-spotlight-obit-11041963.html">O.B.I.T.</a>” and “<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/10/episode-spotlight-demon-with-glass-hand.html">Demon with a Glass Hand</a>,” not to mention “<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/10/episode-spotlight-man-who-was-never.html">The Man Who Was Never Born</a>” for the Australians), so... who knows? <p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCzLZYrb0eHlSDZO8ns_ot-fELDnyvvm_0BjEK_ZgQDXf_FaHgPhLbuFvTY61bKz_D39_JunwEPRYh6cukx892HwqowrAkNYdBSMwK12tN9w-8RBdWhGi6RkUt1CnGTMU56J9EzRnkK1uwzY_fvapE4C5qYmso4Dhnm859SP6q9ub5TFQJ71slFgJM/s1437/vlcsnap-2022-12-03-19h12m42s856.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1437" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCzLZYrb0eHlSDZO8ns_ot-fELDnyvvm_0BjEK_ZgQDXf_FaHgPhLbuFvTY61bKz_D39_JunwEPRYh6cukx892HwqowrAkNYdBSMwK12tN9w-8RBdWhGi6RkUt1CnGTMU56J9EzRnkK1uwzY_fvapE4C5qYmso4Dhnm859SP6q9ub5TFQJ71slFgJM/s320/vlcsnap-2022-12-03-19h12m42s856.png" width="320" /></a></div>Kino gave it to me without batting an eye. I celebrated for about five seconds before the crushing weight of responsibility rested firmly atop my shoulders, its insistent claws digging into my flesh. “Tim Riley” isn’t just a high point for <i>Night Gallery</i>--- it’s the final piece of a tapestry of autobiographical works examining nostalgic longing that Serling started way back in his live TV days. I--- me, Yours Truly, this caveman right here--- would have to somehow craft something worthy of such an important work. And then the icy chill of abject panic set in. I’m pretty sure I got drunk that night, just to settle my nerves (not the first time, and definitely not the last). And that seemed to do the trick... things flowed pretty well once I finally forced myself to start writing, and soon I had well over 52 minutes of material (which is the best problem to have when you have a finite amount of time to fill; cutting is infinitely preferable to padding). And I think it turned out pretty decent overall---- and I did get a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award nomination for it (didn't win, alas).<p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">One of the more fascinating aspects of <i>Night Gallery</i>’s history was the bizarre treatment it received when it was prepared for syndication after its network run aired. I’m not going to recount the whole thing here, but I will give you a thumbnail sketch (or smear, as the case may be): it was an hour show, but was downsized to thirty minutes in its third and final season. The subsequent syndication package was mandated to contain ALL half-hour episodes, which meant significant editing was done to several segments. For the show’s first season, the single most edited (i.e., cut down) segment was “They’re Tearing Down Tim Riley’s Bar" (which was slashed from 40 minutes to 24). As unfortunate as this was (and still is), the tele-butchery at least provided a plethora of talking points for my audio commentary. As a rudimentary study guide of sorts, I created a split-screen video of the complete segment, synched to the hacked-up syndicated version, so I could see where all the holes were. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9H9XCBR41g63zR9Obnr6nPIotkWlJovYEU6YK5bybfnBvlHu5n_Z1MKkpsY7tsy2EUY0b5mNV4mgAbFAwDYAW9ODH2L2kgC_Yj17ZtO9cIdUpQxyijiCkkmLlxEla9uVbsxbPGo4HVHVA2nYd3NRq9T-JVd92UbOHJkpTe4QSpbWWfvOR7bCCIyUk/s1920/vlcsnap-2022-12-03-18h08m47s946.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9H9XCBR41g63zR9Obnr6nPIotkWlJovYEU6YK5bybfnBvlHu5n_Z1MKkpsY7tsy2EUY0b5mNV4mgAbFAwDYAW9ODH2L2kgC_Yj17ZtO9cIdUpQxyijiCkkmLlxEla9uVbsxbPGo4HVHVA2nYd3NRq9T-JVd92UbOHJkpTe4QSpbWWfvOR7bCCIyUk/w640-h362/vlcsnap-2022-12-03-18h08m47s946.png" width="640" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9H9XCBR41g63zR9Obnr6nPIotkWlJovYEU6YK5bybfnBvlHu5n_Z1MKkpsY7tsy2EUY0b5mNV4mgAbFAwDYAW9ODH2L2kgC_Yj17ZtO9cIdUpQxyijiCkkmLlxEla9uVbsxbPGo4HVHVA2nYd3NRq9T-JVd92UbOHJkpTe4QSpbWWfvOR7bCCIyUk/s1920/vlcsnap-2022-12-03-18h08m47s946.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaN9qCzoBWkTOeizjfj3OEo9AD5H8d8jTMhHTWRIJj_blY-1kBHxRT5gzK6KcrwQAbZGmLoO_u7H5uD4pwuhsdXjmV0wESyf-6HfEikfw9AJiunxhJuGc6G2GlgZ3pMRTwGm34ESyIsBNw3IOSQD6uFXmPAtwwuceiYDxJ2hEdvoFhgdA0ArB1Ztw3/s1920/vlcsnap-2022-12-03-18h09m45s377.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaN9qCzoBWkTOeizjfj3OEo9AD5H8d8jTMhHTWRIJj_blY-1kBHxRT5gzK6KcrwQAbZGmLoO_u7H5uD4pwuhsdXjmV0wESyf-6HfEikfw9AJiunxhJuGc6G2GlgZ3pMRTwGm34ESyIsBNw3IOSQD6uFXmPAtwwuceiYDxJ2hEdvoFhgdA0ArB1Ztw3/w640-h362/vlcsnap-2022-12-03-18h09m45s377.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I did this purely for my own research purposes… but it got me thinking about the effect of the syndication edits on the series as a whole, and what an important piece of the <i>Night Gallery</i> story they represent (since those syndication versions are STILL in circulation, while the unedited originals are only available on home video). I approached Kino about the viability of including my split-screen video on the Blu-ray set… and to my surprise and delight, they went for it. They provided me with an uncompressed master of the episode (which, if you’re curious, is around 60 gigabytes in size!), and I rebuilt my video in high definition. My initial intent was to simply preface the video with a couple of text screens explaining what the viewer was about to see, but I quickly realized that I could make it prettier than that, with a few graphics and maybe some music… </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Things exploded exponentially from there. My “rudimentary study guide” mutated into a full-fledged Ken Burns-style documentary featurette, examining all the syndication changes to the first season episodes, complete with clips, music and motion graphics (and yes, voiceover narration by Yours Truly). </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEAa-wasbGAIXDAsq7p4a2NnUoL5hAKogb8gnvn3wzcrNzd8qaIm5c8RNn_Rc7D5pL9Q6DwVxPU78MFx1L7lyzrHcJQ0Ak5YfmfWwyC2MndOZXx1N0Gf8zXouyp3-W_Y6rKW3n8K36_zjNYxzS0KZ7ozHKwUuygspDWxS92Q8-c6fezQ9S3tKiUFkU/s1920/NG%20Dox3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1630" data-original-width="1920" height="544" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEAa-wasbGAIXDAsq7p4a2NnUoL5hAKogb8gnvn3wzcrNzd8qaIm5c8RNn_Rc7D5pL9Q6DwVxPU78MFx1L7lyzrHcJQ0Ak5YfmfWwyC2MndOZXx1N0Gf8zXouyp3-W_Y6rKW3n8K36_zjNYxzS0KZ7ozHKwUuygspDWxS92Q8-c6fezQ9S3tKiUFkU/w640-h544/NG%20Dox3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I created similar featurettes for the second and third seasons (which can be found on their corresponding Blu-rays, the third of which just dropped a couple of weeks ago). And I’m not gonna lie--- I’m super proud of ‘em. It’s one thing to write and record an audio commentary---- imagine having the entire multimedia spectrum at your fingertips. And honestly, viewers are way more likely to click on a documentary featurette (which can be viewed) versus an audio-only supplement.</p><div style="text-align: justify;">The lesson here? If you want something in life, just fucking ask for it. The worst that can happen is that you’ll get turned down (okay, I suppose you could get laughed out of the room in the process). But dammit, sack up and take the risk, because you might get exactly what you want. Fortune favors the bold, somebody somewhere said once (I think, anyway; it sounds vaguely familiar). Just by proposing an idea, just by asking---- I set a chain of events in motion that led to professional gig work. Plus, I can now stop referring to myself as a <i>podcaster-slash-blogger</i> and instead identify as both a <i>film and television historian</i> AND a <i>documentary filmmaker</i>. Pretty cool, right? </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Oh, here’s one more example of fortune favoring the bold (or whatever the damned saying is): just a couple of weeks ago, Kino announced that they’re releasing a classic science-fiction B-movie from the late 1950’s on Blu-ray in 2023, so I immediately emailed my contact and offered my commentating services. And y’know what? I’ve now got my first theatrical commentary gig (don’t ask me what the movie is; I’m not authorized to say yet). So yeah, kids, nut up and just ASK when you want something. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is my life in the glow of <i>The Outer Limits</i>---- I never dreamed that this little blog would lead to so many opportunities, but here we are. It’s crazy. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKiR-qxAhmfz3vdwLCcN3djpjwJoEtwecRGNLj7SL8Sn5pQ1ook3f6uagn0i_YrRXR8tyF_ZrRTetmUcVtdaVklB0g_ZZ5Qrfa0cHMwPP-Iyq9oTlPr-ENL0L8tuFuSDHNCvIZtDOQYR53axdOSG89wHegooF0oW43aYm0IigfqW47MZC54yOWk-Tg/s3484/NG%20Trio.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1494" data-original-width="3484" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKiR-qxAhmfz3vdwLCcN3djpjwJoEtwecRGNLj7SL8Sn5pQ1ook3f6uagn0i_YrRXR8tyF_ZrRTetmUcVtdaVklB0g_ZZ5Qrfa0cHMwPP-Iyq9oTlPr-ENL0L8tuFuSDHNCvIZtDOQYR53axdOSG89wHegooF0oW43aYm0IigfqW47MZC54yOWk-Tg/w640-h274/NG%20Trio.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><div style="text-align: justify;">In case you're curious--- I contributed a total of five audio commentaries for the three <i>Night Gallery</i> Blu-ray sets: </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1x06<span> "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar"</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> "The Last Laurel"</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">2x01<span> "</span>The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> "</span>Miss Lovecraft Sent Me"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> "</span>The Hand of Borgus Weems"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> "</span>Phantom of What Opera?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />2x14<span> "</span>The Different Ones"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <span> "</span>Tell David..."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <span> </span><span> </span><span> "</span>Logoda’s Heads"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />3x03<span> "Rare Objects"</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />3x09<span> "She'll Be Company For You"</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><br /></span></div>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-35180930907828810622022-12-02T20:45:00.002-08:002022-12-03T19:55:34.976-08:00Glow and Behold...<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiKJIbtGjZOHuNPzMp38SYbE7IHjpLSxScARxyxWKWPvqpISJMa2z_Wtcv6mSK8CCcc0Kk8Ypfi_G2wezc35A3Sd0errkzeTwsDznudQKYdmtDLkzXDPJbU2wZfT2IktsvDzrHjxuPufgvLnRn77tNYPZCpGnmMPGgN1-F-aIuio8fv-g--MVpRrzu/s1600/IMG_2193.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiKJIbtGjZOHuNPzMp38SYbE7IHjpLSxScARxyxWKWPvqpISJMa2z_Wtcv6mSK8CCcc0Kk8Ypfi_G2wezc35A3Sd0errkzeTwsDznudQKYdmtDLkzXDPJbU2wZfT2IktsvDzrHjxuPufgvLnRn77tNYPZCpGnmMPGgN1-F-aIuio8fv-g--MVpRrzu/w400-h300/IMG_2193.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">Longtime readers of my <a href="http://mylifeintheshadowofthetwilightzone.blogspot.com/">Twilight Zone blog</a> may recall that, several years ago, I acquired a <a href="http://mylifeintheshadowofthetwilightzone.blogspot.com/2011/02/tz-product-placement-pub-light-sign.html">TZ pub light sign</a> which mimics those glorious neon beer signs that adorn the walls of every single bar and tavern I've (and presumably you've) ever been in. Wow, that was almost <b><i>13</i></b> years ago. This thing has been with me ever since, in and out of boxes through multiple moves, and it's still going strong. It currently resides on the wall directly behind the theater recliner in my home office, right under a trio of 11x17" movie poster replicas (<i>Forbidden Planet, 2001: A Space Odyssey</i> and <i>Blade Runner</i>). But if I'm being honest, the dead space around it has been bugging me for a while. It... needs something next to it, not just to take up blank wall space, but to compliment it.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">It was my birthday last week, and my wife Teresa gave me a really cool gift that resolved the issue:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQP493H1EfByA7FpBZO63zCMDzJe64ZdBfzklPNCxND9gkjPDgExG_pA11wwfKQ5DIs337LlpKg3-g_jAGwFX5z7puo6lrZqpZXuFHS-nbQs0C4wRGom1kPT6W0DWctAClz3tvST0LXogicd0aowu-AXC3cG53dK6753KOTQEsY0Tvfls2SNw05IkG/s7230/20221203_170417.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5207" data-original-width="7230" height="461" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQP493H1EfByA7FpBZO63zCMDzJe64ZdBfzklPNCxND9gkjPDgExG_pA11wwfKQ5DIs337LlpKg3-g_jAGwFX5z7puo6lrZqpZXuFHS-nbQs0C4wRGom1kPT6W0DWctAClz3tvST0LXogicd0aowu-AXC3cG53dK6753KOTQEsY0Tvfls2SNw05IkG/w640-h461/20221203_170417.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Pretty cool, right? These are actually pretty easy to acquire---- just hit Amazon and search for "custom LED bar sign," and you'll find several sellers who will make one for you. This one is way cooler than its <i>TZ</i> predecessor, since it can glow in several different colors (or cycle between them)... but c'mon. Blue will always be <b>THE</b> <i>Outer Limits</i> color. Now my two favorite TV series of all time are equally represented, side by side, casting an eerie blue glow over my favorite seat in the house.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0p057Pz06Mvw_7GOMyQcwJEI2Jp__ibaDVDPJkQh1GXxHngpsJowH4tQ4PfxhxCWjrMfdLa862GW6uRFWGCouquY2bKKUE8o9vfmiKN-i7Db1sW8aGy2WV_bBNbOrdqLDVNH7X5BZ0WhA8i7X9514oDOFlCUb0kqBLt6JDgJjdzOJlve0L-Pi5eYX/s8160/20221128_164812.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6120" data-original-width="8160" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0p057Pz06Mvw_7GOMyQcwJEI2Jp__ibaDVDPJkQh1GXxHngpsJowH4tQ4PfxhxCWjrMfdLa862GW6uRFWGCouquY2bKKUE8o9vfmiKN-i7Db1sW8aGy2WV_bBNbOrdqLDVNH7X5BZ0WhA8i7X9514oDOFlCUb0kqBLt6JDgJjdzOJlve0L-Pi5eYX/w640-h480/20221128_164812.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0p057Pz06Mvw_7GOMyQcwJEI2Jp__ibaDVDPJkQh1GXxHngpsJowH4tQ4PfxhxCWjrMfdLa862GW6uRFWGCouquY2bKKUE8o9vfmiKN-i7Db1sW8aGy2WV_bBNbOrdqLDVNH7X5BZ0WhA8i7X9514oDOFlCUb0kqBLt6JDgJjdzOJlve0L-Pi5eYX/s8160/20221128_164812.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMevzQKQC59VnxFIVqlecfynC_A3_3mX3Aj1EO2DtO_Yx6RsBPr2jDd5kr228pQ4_0SXnTCJvxcBRukqaFzKzvL3ynXfnpL97Oov_wQbN6vzNyaS-I_LQOa37oIgwTf7hUJC8ncikAqU2IF3FeGGf9-oIfTJ2tw-kUa_EekgWDNT67gkJYpZdlDZRk/s7561/20221203_171305.jpg" style="display: inline; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="7561" data-original-width="6120" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMevzQKQC59VnxFIVqlecfynC_A3_3mX3Aj1EO2DtO_Yx6RsBPr2jDd5kr228pQ4_0SXnTCJvxcBRukqaFzKzvL3ynXfnpL97Oov_wQbN6vzNyaS-I_LQOa37oIgwTf7hUJC8ncikAqU2IF3FeGGf9-oIfTJ2tw-kUa_EekgWDNT67gkJYpZdlDZRk/w518-h640/20221203_171305.jpg" width="518" /></a></div>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-51406022629890013422022-11-15T17:37:00.000-08:002022-11-15T17:37:21.732-08:00Meanwhile, across the pond...<p style="text-align: justify;">Since a number of sites have these listed for pre-order, I guess it's safe to publicly unveil <i><b>another</b></i> Complete Series Blu-ray release (and DVD too, for those permanently stuck in 1998), this time from <b>Mediumrare Entertainment</b> in the UK, coming December 12th (that's 2022, for future readers).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizqSTx-TF8JcTjwRzHRpq18sz7b2nV8ggxyQkRZeovxAPskp9t8VUMPftoPyetioQxIjGTMlZN-FB-WEL_UaKKI9OwURvqT54pK0iJ7GYycDe0wdqLqC-7e6Y1yzNXgwzdThX9BdnIt4d754VNJRhsVuf3I3qakaE9oEmoO9EArNjuQzTnVQcwPMDo/s2146/UK%20Blu%20+%20DVD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1451" data-original-width="2146" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizqSTx-TF8JcTjwRzHRpq18sz7b2nV8ggxyQkRZeovxAPskp9t8VUMPftoPyetioQxIjGTMlZN-FB-WEL_UaKKI9OwURvqT54pK0iJ7GYycDe0wdqLqC-7e6Y1yzNXgwzdThX9BdnIt4d754VNJRhsVuf3I3qakaE9oEmoO9EArNjuQzTnVQcwPMDo/w640-h432/UK%20Blu%20+%20DVD.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkJlY8ITLo8hD_IP1_m5NrhXf2cm-gAgbEhk5Q8duWUzp2ZW3WlrSo1WtB_0tkQZ3nTlgecTU11FrQFffnwQsquvcYtDLPHEmMLdFfLBe7ldz9LlyQ62X73VMhtwwXCKQyjHKSPVay-IFY_Wewj1EXDOTcXt_VeMXO9cUQ5iOH6Gn8F6RTrkiny23B/s2605/back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2605" data-original-width="1968" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkJlY8ITLo8hD_IP1_m5NrhXf2cm-gAgbEhk5Q8duWUzp2ZW3WlrSo1WtB_0tkQZ3nTlgecTU11FrQFffnwQsquvcYtDLPHEmMLdFfLBe7ldz9LlyQ62X73VMhtwwXCKQyjHKSPVay-IFY_Wewj1EXDOTcXt_VeMXO9cUQ5iOH6Gn8F6RTrkiny23B/w303-h400/back.jpg" width="303" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My understanding is that Mediumrare is basing their effort on the Australian edition released by Via Vision in 2020 (<i>sans</i> that gorgeous hard box packaging, sadly; the above are slipcases). So hey, if you missed out on that, this may be an approximate solution. I should mention that there are NO NEW SUPPLEMENTS--- which is a shame, since there are two audio commentary tracks currently looking for a home (which I detailed <a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2022/10/alternate-timelines-and-rubber-monsters.html">last time</a>). But, as I've stated elsewhere, 2023 is the 60th anniversary of the series, so I'm still hoping against all logic and reason that there'll be some reflection of that milestone on the home video front. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One interesting (i.e. <i>confounding</i>) observation: All the Blu-rays releases across the board have 11 total discs each. However--- the combined DVD sets from Kino have 13 discs. The Via Vision complete series DVD set also has 13. This new complete series DVD offering from Mediumrare has FOURTEEN. But I'm told there are NO NEW SUPPLEMENTS. What does it all mean?</div></div><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;">Naturally, being the psychologically-imbalanced fool that I am, I ordered the Via Vision DVD set (which I don't already have, oddly enough) and pre-ordered both Mediumrare editions... which is to say: I'll report back when I know more.</div><p></p>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-39640598432488568432022-10-30T13:30:00.003-07:002022-12-03T17:47:10.856-08:00Alternate Timelines and Rubber Monsters Galore!<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Between Light and Shadow: A Twilight Zone Podcast</b> ran for five years, from October 2016 to November 2021 (which sounds more impressive than it actually is, given the fact that I only managed to generate 69 total installments that entire time). It was always my intent to do some sort of <i>Outer Limits</i>-centric tangent-type episode at some point during those years, which the second half of the 2020 David J. Schow double feature extravaganza (detailed <a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2022/10/bare-dem-bones.html">last time</a>) did sorta satisfy… emphasis on sorta. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">See, back at the show’s inception, I seriously considered doing an <i>Outer Limits</i> podcast instead. At that time there were NO podcasts exclusively devoted to TOL and only a smattering of websites (this blog, <a href="http://wearecontrollingtransmission.blogspot.com/">We Are Controlling Transmission</a>, maybe one or two others). <i>The Twilight Zone</i>, on the other hand, was well represented on both fronts. So why did I choose <i>The Twilight Zone</i>? I think it ultimately came down to---- which show did I know better? Which show had I loved longer? </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Do I regret my decision? If I’m being honest---- Christ, yes. 100%. Don’t get me wrong--- I’m (mostly) proud of the podcast, now that a bit of time has passed since it ended (but I struggled--- sometimes mightily so--- with that fucker while I was doing it). From Day One I was always nipping at the heels of established giants (The Twilight Zone Podcast and The Twilight Pwn, chiefly), and my little show never really took off as I’d hoped it would. Had I gone the OL route instead, I would’ve been the only game in town (until Victor Gamboa launched <b><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-outer-limits-podcast/id1312801401">The Outer Limits Podcast</a></b> in November 2017, that is). </p><p style="text-align: justify;">And you know what? I suspect I would’ve enjoyed the experience more had I done an OL podcast. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">When I started crafting the aforementioned <i>Outer Limits</i>-centric tangent-type episode for BL&S, I leaned hard into the Sophie’s Choice decision and imagined an alternate universe in which I had in fact taken that proverbial road less travelled. Marvel’s <i>What If?</i> had just finished its first season, so it felt like the perfect time to riff on the whole Multiverse thing. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">On November 11, 2021, mere weeks before the show breathed its last, I rolled out the inaugural (and only) installment of <b>Between Awe and Mystery: An Outer Limits Podcast</b>, which focused on the “<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/12/episode-spotlight-tourist-attraction.html">Tourist Attraction</a>” episode. It's basically the EXACT same format as Between Light and Shadow--- it’s got the same segment jingles, the usual customary music segment with Dr. Reba Wissner, the same lame dad jokes--- but with one critical difference: DJS was on board as essentially a co-host. Check it out:</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" height="90" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/21156128/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/87A93A/" style="border: none;" title="Libsyn Player" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: justify;">We treated the whole thing as if we’d been doing <i>The Outer Limits</i> the whole time… and managed to confuse a couple of listeners in the process, who apparently weren’t hip to the whole super-meta in-joke thing. Jesus, the <i>What If?</i> bit at the beginning wasn’t enough of a hint? Sheesh. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfGcvXvb6i9yLb0WuGHWriTpFby3__jNAfel55ZAiqiRBN5lq8LPym2avZ-NYN7YTD9HcUsJkgYiZTwIZpQAi6bC_Mw7pHvFdY5wPGRss8s-w_EpKF3yyir1XJWkLhSSzkTb1VilQTYlcb5ojY0bUpHZgGgmQNjAQOlAzu9VF6IHeYaqu00rHCpT9k/s2952/Unknown%20-%20Forms%20Duo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="2952" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfGcvXvb6i9yLb0WuGHWriTpFby3__jNAfel55ZAiqiRBN5lq8LPym2avZ-NYN7YTD9HcUsJkgYiZTwIZpQAi6bC_Mw7pHvFdY5wPGRss8s-w_EpKF3yyir1XJWkLhSSzkTb1VilQTYlcb5ojY0bUpHZgGgmQNjAQOlAzu9VF6IHeYaqu00rHCpT9k/w640-h238/Unknown%20-%20Forms%20Duo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Remember “<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/05/episode-spotlight-forms-of-things.html">The Forms of Things Unknown</a>,” which was shot two different ways in order to create both an <i>Outer Limits</i> episode and a pilot for a projected series called <i>The Unknown</i>? My chat with DJS about “Tourist Attraction” was similarly intended to serve two distinct purposes. After the podcast version, it would be rearranged and remixed to serve as a straight Blu-ray audio commentary for…. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Well, what, exactly? That, kids, remains to be seen. We got the idea from our colleague Tim Lucas, who was commissioned by a fan in 2021 to record an ala carte commentary track for “<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/12/episode-spotlight-it-crawled-out-of.html">It Crawled Out of the Woodwork</a>.” There were eleven <i>Outer Limits</i> that didn’t receive the commentary treatment in either the Kino Lorber or the Via Vision Blu-ray releases, which became ten after Lucas’ effort… and now, with the finished (but presently homeless) “Tourist Attraction,” there are nine. I suspect DJS and I (and others) won’t rest until EVERY episode has at least one commentary track attached to it. WHERE these tracks might appear is the real question. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Full disclosure: DJS and I briefly entertained the idea of doing a limited series podcast in which we’d cover only the episodes that never got audio commentaries. I even mocked up a graphic for it: </p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XBijEfuHMfRW2G5ZFiwNWQeG8FbC-UZdH9J7UcxCNmslMie1seqSP-to9uCt1r5QXcaRmq8mqq7uIX9UUimgBc51h6WBcjg_72GncRwNbuh7-ncztSxUPLXz3DNtEn02ooUUZyqBG-wTqjiKw4asTylHnpjhgFAWHOxFdW7wyX7OoBWIduWXUE1r/s857/TOL@55%20-%20TOL@50%20Duo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="857" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XBijEfuHMfRW2G5ZFiwNWQeG8FbC-UZdH9J7UcxCNmslMie1seqSP-to9uCt1r5QXcaRmq8mqq7uIX9UUimgBc51h6WBcjg_72GncRwNbuh7-ncztSxUPLXz3DNtEn02ooUUZyqBG-wTqjiKw4asTylHnpjhgFAWHOxFdW7wyX7OoBWIduWXUE1r/w640-h316/TOL@55%20-%20TOL@50%20Duo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">...an obvious riff on his book <i>The Outer Limits at 50</i>. The plan was to release new episodes on a monthly basis throughout 2019 (leading up to the show’s 55th anniversary). We obviously never got around to it, but…. hey, you never know. Next year is the show’s 60th anniversary, after all (watch your back, Victor!). </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Next time:</b> <i>Betritt die Nachtgalerie...</i></p>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-81356848584513091952022-10-27T20:30:00.002-07:002022-12-03T17:42:01.470-08:00Bare Dem Bones!<div><div style="text-align: justify;">In May 2020, <b>David J. Schow</b> was kind enough to appear on my podcast to discuss---- in deliriously delightful detail (try saying that fast three times)--- the storied history behind <i>Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine</i>. DJS was represented many times in its pages, contributing both short stories and a multi-part overview of The Outer Limits (which he would later expand into <i>The Outer Limits Companion</i>). It was a great chat which, if you haven’t heard it before, can be found here:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" height="90" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/14262848/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/87A93A/" style="border: none;" title="Libsyn Player" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">You’ll need to carve out two-and-a-half hours to hear it all… but in truth, that’s nowhere near all of it. The raw, unedited conversation ran a bit over five hours, only half of which pertained to the subject at hand. But damn, there was so much other good stuff (including some <i>Outer Limits</i> crumbs)… so another two hours comprised my very next episode:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" height="90" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/14455970/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/87A93A/" style="border: none;" title="Libsyn Player" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A few weeks later, <a href="https://www.cimarronstreetbooks.com/">Cimarron Street Books</a> launched the first title in their <b>David J. Schow Library</b>, an ongoing campaign to bring all of his books back into print in definitive editions, augmented with new or relevant content. One of these titles, <i>Seeing Red</i>, was slated to appear (okay, <i><b>re</b></i>appear) in May 2021, and would include a transcript of our <i>Twilight Zone Magazine</i> conversation… titled, of all things, <b><i>Between Light and Shadow</i></b><i><b>!</b></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO9DQIn3Paa160JEwoUvNnJnlTCdap6GhYvmXBJIcnGW0INRcXdVMvthzH5gPnkkJ-3surSdZUSIo52Xpw5VoTeKcv9OaqDs3uV0sHV6-afRofkqvj64KF5NZfCrhKJ1Z31iyRPliia0HZOXm324oG-HkBVAUPrSrrQny7H52kmCPClAz8xG0D4S9O/s1889/Seeing%20Red%20Duo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1418" data-original-width="1889" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO9DQIn3Paa160JEwoUvNnJnlTCdap6GhYvmXBJIcnGW0INRcXdVMvthzH5gPnkkJ-3surSdZUSIo52Xpw5VoTeKcv9OaqDs3uV0sHV6-afRofkqvj64KF5NZfCrhKJ1Z31iyRPliia0HZOXm324oG-HkBVAUPrSrrQny7H52kmCPClAz8xG0D4S9O/w640-h480/Seeing%20Red%20Duo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pretty cool, right? The idea that one could flip open a David J. Schow book and see not just my name, but an extended conversation between the two of us… it just blows my mind. It’s right there on my shelf, and yet I still don’t quite believe it sometimes. Get your own copy <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Red-David-J-Schow/dp/B095L5LRPJ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3KGK599PZ7RDC&keywords=seeing+red+david+j.+schow&qid=1667023550&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjg2IiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=seeing+red+david+j.+schow%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-1">here</a></b>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7xuLBVyq0NOoTyFyAyHzI-vGOEfYgZto3gyz-8ICoEU9cFXFilmliQOhQOxfK24umVBBAKdgC3znf9i987g3Hr0l5DxcOJ9eS8j60uFaE09dEivphEKTmFErciSR5rHKcM-qeuV1JX407hi9ZrxEA73jrCCoplcxJ5NZnIrjKhRv1NwTLIwmekJa/s7440/BB%20Front-Back.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5543" data-original-width="7440" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7xuLBVyq0NOoTyFyAyHzI-vGOEfYgZto3gyz-8ICoEU9cFXFilmliQOhQOxfK24umVBBAKdgC3znf9i987g3Hr0l5DxcOJ9eS8j60uFaE09dEivphEKTmFErciSR5rHKcM-qeuV1JX407hi9ZrxEA73jrCCoplcxJ5NZnIrjKhRv1NwTLIwmekJa/w640-h476/BB%20Front-Back.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cimarron Street also publishes <b><i>bare</i>•bones</b>, a quarterly mélange of deep-dive articles about books, films, television… plus <i><b>R&D</b></i>, a column by none other than DJS (a continuation of his legendary <i>Raving & Drooling</i> column for <i>Fangoria</i>). <b><i>bare</i>•bones</b> seemed like the perfect home for a deep-dive article I’d been contemplating for quite a while, so I proposed it to them… and to my surprise and delight, they went for it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYeNY9nJCPRwf5UV1OUHb-akhuXrL-ANelXFnerVTpwUifcWpyWr_BfWoctfugv8jDr-SOCY1jarqs0BEvq_M5crE62xog6i5lK5zPmDtZskP0S-v8foV11pSmAd5JvMgySMn3Bg6LUwNQhVsLdpIJpGP739i1_fRdpFllvrEXTgu3BxK9aN090CIV/s1258/Capture.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1258" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYeNY9nJCPRwf5UV1OUHb-akhuXrL-ANelXFnerVTpwUifcWpyWr_BfWoctfugv8jDr-SOCY1jarqs0BEvq_M5crE62xog6i5lK5zPmDtZskP0S-v8foV11pSmAd5JvMgySMn3Bg6LUwNQhVsLdpIJpGP739i1_fRdpFllvrEXTgu3BxK9aN090CIV/w640-h448/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>I Am Controlling Transmission: Collecting The Outer Limits on Home Video (with Apologies to Robert Duvall)</i> was published in the spring 2021 issue of <b><i>bare</i>•bones</b> (it actually streeted a couple of weeks before <i>Seeing Red</i>, so needless to say May 2021 was a good month for me; incidentally, Schow’s column in that particular issue is about <i>Twilight Zone Magazine</i>. See? Synergy, kids. Everything is connected).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My article covers the earliest VHS releases, the brilliant Via Vision Blu-ray release from 2020, and everything in between. But it isn’t just a dry checklist-type rundown---- it’s an autobiographical chronicle of my obsessive collecting (and recollecting) of the show. If you possess even a passing interest in the history of <i>The Outer Limits</i> on home video, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it. But hey, don’t take my word for it. Here’s an excerpt from the sole Amazon review of this particular issue:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>For me, the standout feature of BARE-BONES #6 was Craig Beam's often-hilarious account of his passionate (but bittersweet) pursuit of THE OUTER LIMITS on home video. Spanning as many years and formats as it did, his obsessive journey is almost Homeric!</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And before you ask--- no, I didn’t write that. And if you’re expecting me to explain the Robert Duvall name-drop in the article’s title… well, tough toenails, mate. You’ll have to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bare-Bones-6-Spring-2021/dp/B094PDC1M5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3GJEX1G4N0EFF&keywords=bare+bones+%236&qid=1667023439&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjAwIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=bare+bones+6%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-1">shell out ten bucks and snag your own copy</a> to find out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Next Time:</b> Alternate Timelines and Rubber Monsters Galore!</div></div>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-15028408510758656622022-10-17T20:07:00.008-07:002022-12-03T17:40:13.011-08:00Who's Zoomin' Who?<p style="text-align: justify;">On October 10, 2020, David J. Schow gathered the Outer Limits Commentary Crew for a no-holds-barred live discussion panel (for that year's Monsterama virtual convention; for the uninitiated, Monsterama is Atlanta, Georgia's only retro science fiction and horror convention) about our collective experiences working on the Blu-rays. It went a little something like this:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1ZrDOJIr3Hw" width="457" youtube-src-id="1ZrDOJIr3Hw"></iframe></div><p style="text-align: justify;">Caveat: for some reason my audio was mixed WAY lower than everyone else's (perhaps this was intentional...?), so you'll need to CRANK THAT SHIT UP if you want to hear my (relatively minor) contributions to the discussion. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZvqUejFTezd5sXjaZKU3s-ZHhxmpBTdoeEXgTYzGluxoD8EnXKlhvVPnFAicGqmOIpRGzeZIytWBaA8xW6yGRuB_hTYLYxwNS0ALo7HiwM3ATSZWz5XYbUo3hBsVQzvZ8_84UmQfCDsm6WXuAEa5AD2W-BqH8cF9qMhEo4sMDHI1gSuooL79sWLWF/s828/Capture.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="828" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZvqUejFTezd5sXjaZKU3s-ZHhxmpBTdoeEXgTYzGluxoD8EnXKlhvVPnFAicGqmOIpRGzeZIytWBaA8xW6yGRuB_hTYLYxwNS0ALo7HiwM3ATSZWz5XYbUo3hBsVQzvZ8_84UmQfCDsm6WXuAEa5AD2W-BqH8cF9qMhEo4sMDHI1gSuooL79sWLWF/w640-h347/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Clockwise from top left: Steve Mitchell, Tim Lucas, David J. Schow, Yours Truly, Dr. Reba Wissner, Gary Gerani. Note that I'm the lucky bastard who got to share the screen with the Monsterama logo.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1561" data-original-width="1586" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMgXxLZqsErTEKn9Dn6UxpvINdxGfr8pnqqITIg4gaNHNUl3c_ptPZYNywX5otQfRYTujAEr_TTDzLR_uTs-inXWug4KjczFdNKqzyb0ZvMaObUmZa2uXc4S01P8CvbgwmuzMV_C1mIu1852RXEDa7D-pHHdU1VN3rA75NTf2odkngMWtwQ9Q99S7B/w400-h394/Screenshot_20221025_082940_Facebook.jpg" width="400" /></b></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Anthony Taylor</b>, the brains (and beauty) behind Monsterama, is a great guy who deserves a lavishing of praise for facilitating this. DJS and I are hoping to get the band back together for a reunion chat of sorts, so... stay tuned. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Next time:</b> Bare Dem Bones!</p>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-44292293652176789222022-10-11T17:06:00.010-07:002022-12-03T17:39:27.588-08:00Hey, Nice Package (UPDATE #2)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEt6HXAXAcAYCe0zQtBgto9x-3u5QJpOEGlYNM65LknxK3s1xWSWl_YPFOhyUgZUt1qvsIS2_dY_vA-CCiWHbRHCwlKNt8p7_fFbm4wKh6soJnDnXRd_y5m_ovSXGtizeFlGzokhS2TDf_XOpj-T2SY03PVm1Z5KsQo8jXQigKqxTgWaiW328Z258/s8160/20221011_161048.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6120" data-original-width="8160" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEt6HXAXAcAYCe0zQtBgto9x-3u5QJpOEGlYNM65LknxK3s1xWSWl_YPFOhyUgZUt1qvsIS2_dY_vA-CCiWHbRHCwlKNt8p7_fFbm4wKh6soJnDnXRd_y5m_ovSXGtizeFlGzokhS2TDf_XOpj-T2SY03PVm1Z5KsQo8jXQigKqxTgWaiW328Z258/w640-h480/20221011_161048.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Top:</b> 2022 reissue. <b>Bottom: </b>Original 2018 release.</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">Okay, this'll be quick. My copy of the 2022 reissue of <b>The Outer Limits: Season 1</b> Blu-ray showed up today, a full five days AFTER <a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2022/10/hey-nice-package-update.html"><b>Season 2</b> got here</a>. Not really much to report--- it's the same deal as Season 2, with one interesting little twist (and when I say "little," I'm really saying "so profoundly insignificant that only crazy people like Yours Truly would even notice, much less care about").</p><p style="text-align: justify;">No booklet. We knew this was happening. They've removed the corresponding blurb from the back of the slipcase.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLlz8iZEh9sFicoAbvTXzS4g9K-KrwdbaoPoTgXg_7yeSjvke1-1AXSpqsxxXzcjfWLFRNiWPI532TA9DGrr1JAl_NNOPRUQJY1B5M74Epgss0ziAyIAwdsE0SWpJ3uNjZqM6D-XP-nlKdfOA9ogrCtgz1ZoQbFsaOmMiz1R2cw24LNRbrLB8z7wlV/s7784/20221011_162018.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4856" data-original-width="7784" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLlz8iZEh9sFicoAbvTXzS4g9K-KrwdbaoPoTgXg_7yeSjvke1-1AXSpqsxxXzcjfWLFRNiWPI532TA9DGrr1JAl_NNOPRUQJY1B5M74Epgss0ziAyIAwdsE0SWpJ3uNjZqM6D-XP-nlKdfOA9ogrCtgz1ZoQbFsaOmMiz1R2cw24LNRbrLB8z7wlV/w640-h400/20221011_162018.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Left: </b>Original 2018 release. <b>Right:</b> 2022 reissue.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">As with <b>Season 2</b>, episode blurbs grace the back of each Blu-ray case. I'll gripe about this a second time: anybody buying these doesn't need quickie </span><i style="text-align: justify;">TV-Guide</i><span style="text-align: justify;">-style plot descriptions. What would be super helpful would be denotations of who contributed audio commentaries for each episode. With the elimination of the booklet, the only way to find out is to load each disc up and look at the Extras menu. I know--- first world problem. Hey, maybe I should post a comprehensive list right here in this blog....</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfd71NCGgewaFN3a9D1g2LEqXHVp1LJdi3mDC_EttnBMtmhzapOKtYS3ZazlGYVXZrrYoxLhtD0mSLsmXlcxJOFI4nUIpCgil1ZaJcpD2qnic7pTWxD8rQj9xcPk6lf6qsKGbxOFDplLPugIEhaoRFN3uSoMDzJXPXbGlbqlS5d5ZAL4D2-BUlhi26/s8160/20221011_162638.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5184" data-original-width="8160" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfd71NCGgewaFN3a9D1g2LEqXHVp1LJdi3mDC_EttnBMtmhzapOKtYS3ZazlGYVXZrrYoxLhtD0mSLsmXlcxJOFI4nUIpCgil1ZaJcpD2qnic7pTWxD8rQj9xcPk6lf6qsKGbxOFDplLPugIEhaoRFN3uSoMDzJXPXbGlbqlS5d5ZAL4D2-BUlhi26/w640-h406/20221011_162638.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgar8HmQ-tdb8rQxFUAIwzmRbLQNaKiGnkg6Tu3MXPBlH4JcrJq_8Dzce609dJ7D60V-eay0QrTuLaZ6NhH3D57rSfePwMcfBYpMZMbaoBsK10uDOb4C23w8nTswiXAp0D6jJ2JY90dLK0buoIooSVPNMOMphTpwsuapFZQha-J_Hdyo57NS2fOCo4k/s5472/20221011_162443.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="5472" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgar8HmQ-tdb8rQxFUAIwzmRbLQNaKiGnkg6Tu3MXPBlH4JcrJq_8Dzce609dJ7D60V-eay0QrTuLaZ6NhH3D57rSfePwMcfBYpMZMbaoBsK10uDOb4C23w8nTswiXAp0D6jJ2JY90dLK0buoIooSVPNMOMphTpwsuapFZQha-J_Hdyo57NS2fOCo4k/s320/20221011_162443.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Top:</b> Case #2. <b>Bottom:</b> Case #1.</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">That insignificant detail I mentioned pertains to the Blu-ray cases. The first case contains four discs (episodes 1-20), and the second case contains three (episodes 21-32). So while the second case is a true standard Blu-ray case, the first is a slightly wider version to accommodate that fourth disc (you basically have two hinged plastic disc holders inside instead of one). See? Insignificant.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The package is definitely slimmer than the original 2018 release, so it does score a point or two for demanding less shelf space. But the deletion of the booklet---- which was, in essence, a Junior Mint Cliff's Notes version of Schow's <i>Outer Limits Companion</i>--- is a deal breaker. Skip it and track down the 2018 version.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Next time:</b> Who's Zoomin' Who? (no, for real this time)</p>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-36937627065817865022022-10-07T09:22:00.004-07:002022-12-03T17:39:04.296-08:00Hey, Nice Package (UPDATE)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPsLeKEwSDLA6V4cSwNursRoDFbEr0sJlW_W-3Q9SoOg7lhmzy59vwOdcM5FQHCI5SyQpwubEOCYiup8ebmzEApGV9mbiIdt-myPZyZfpGU6vpw7q8DjVfgK7MSFalH4je-hVDri8qReP6YagJnpFZ5AJC95L3VCmxcrN3TRnvNrVhnXPLjpfOcVZ/s7544/20221005_161142.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5160" data-original-width="7544" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPsLeKEwSDLA6V4cSwNursRoDFbEr0sJlW_W-3Q9SoOg7lhmzy59vwOdcM5FQHCI5SyQpwubEOCYiup8ebmzEApGV9mbiIdt-myPZyZfpGU6vpw7q8DjVfgK7MSFalH4je-hVDri8qReP6YagJnpFZ5AJC95L3VCmxcrN3TRnvNrVhnXPLjpfOcVZ/w640-h438/20221005_161142.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Top:</b> 2022 reissue. <b>Bottom: </b>Original 2018 release.</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">My copy of Kino Lorber’s 2022 reissue of <b>The Outer Limits: Season 2</b> Blu-ray has arrived, and I’ve given it the once-over. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Happily, the “Soldier” audio is fine... sorry I doubted you, Kino (not that they would’ve released the defective discs into the wild a second time, but mistakes do happen...!) Not so happily, I can confirm that there is indeed no booklet. That wonderful sprawling essay by David J. Schow? Gone. That helpful episode guide? Gone. </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHN2hxZPQy2pOQ5M1wqUrZXY63VYl1QmPfIKqGNbhLFMI3oBL6PZq3kBKu8lTBpbOQzomo6pJgnuBMqw3akJcEca7hC18r9waTcNFqja_TTAp572tOSZe1xtYIp2BSv6c5SmPPmT-GkrQZ0MQCLMqASj4pz4yV6_NsgOJOf6S5NdbgDQWQ7uzbRTJh/s7816/20221005_161113.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5016" data-original-width="7816" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHN2hxZPQy2pOQ5M1wqUrZXY63VYl1QmPfIKqGNbhLFMI3oBL6PZq3kBKu8lTBpbOQzomo6pJgnuBMqw3akJcEca7hC18r9waTcNFqja_TTAp572tOSZe1xtYIp2BSv6c5SmPPmT-GkrQZ0MQCLMqASj4pz4yV6_NsgOJOf6S5NdbgDQWQ7uzbRTJh/w640-h410/20221005_161113.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Left:</b> Original 2018 release. <b>Right:</b> 2022 reissue.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The back of the outer slipcase is the same as the original edition, except for the new MGM logo (as well as the removal of the 20th Century Fox logo) and the removal of the blurb touting the booklet. The Season 2 reissue is extremely similar to the previous DVD edition---- it too was packed in a single standard case nestled inside a slipcase with no booklet. I’d forgotten that point---- for Season 2, only the Blu-ray came with a booklet (which was a bit of a slap in the face for the non-HD folks, eh?) </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNqlz_sHeztlg21PRhis1GtO9Q0-CMCNbKwb5kNr9Vpuci6EP1e_iHfGX1_OEKT2M8ar4aRV2rQrc5AyAmOEX_WxAq611VrJdp9bqxHNDcssXF9x7z2XKlViD7mh1F2JV3ZTpVUcJ_p9KIqXhruawDtFMHVelfvKOUQVrtNxIfc78FVVskEBhylotp/s6880/20221005_161016.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6880" data-original-width="6087" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNqlz_sHeztlg21PRhis1GtO9Q0-CMCNbKwb5kNr9Vpuci6EP1e_iHfGX1_OEKT2M8ar4aRV2rQrc5AyAmOEX_WxAq611VrJdp9bqxHNDcssXF9x7z2XKlViD7mh1F2JV3ZTpVUcJ_p9KIqXhruawDtFMHVelfvKOUQVrtNxIfc78FVVskEBhylotp/w354-h400/20221005_161016.jpg" width="354" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The episodes are listed on the back of the case sleeve, with air dates and--- this is new--- quick blurbs describing the plots. It would’ve made more sense to identify who’s doing the audio commentary for each episode (which was done in the episode guide section of the MIA booklet)... as it stands, the members of the Commentary Crew are only listed on the back of the outer slipcase. You have to physically load up each disc and open the Extras menu to find out who’s behind the mic for each episode. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">While I do prefer the standard Blu-ray cases over those horrible, fragile Digipack things, this reissue is a disappointing downgrade from the original release. My advice? Skip it! </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Next time:</b> Who's Zoomin' Who?</p>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-54363792784067726212022-10-02T17:23:00.005-07:002022-10-17T20:09:56.893-07:00Hey, Nice Package.<p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">After I posted yesterday's entry about the Via Vision Blu-rays from 2020, DJS reminded me that Kino Lorber released NEW editions of their 2018 Blu-rays (very recently, in fact... August 23rd of this year). Now wait, before you get excited---- there's NOTHING actually <i>new</i> to be found here, in fact.... these are actually a downgrade from the originals.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9EK6CLik__ljCCRENQeFm0qh6bycfI1d5_y4-xvkwuLFCu2hMo13NLUsFCWoasbDNf9hgg9UZliww_P9DzvWt73aFC8NHq74HLv1J4DlkjqtvzgxaiLH7kaIN_27muqS91fburA2dkj5teLdGvkGhzDANr9GkdkPmQMoBuOtQ-j4FiJhnyHpO4BIw/s1094/TOL%20Blu-ray%20packaging%20(both%20seasons)%20(2022%20reissue).jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="485" data-original-width="1094" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9EK6CLik__ljCCRENQeFm0qh6bycfI1d5_y4-xvkwuLFCu2hMo13NLUsFCWoasbDNf9hgg9UZliww_P9DzvWt73aFC8NHq74HLv1J4DlkjqtvzgxaiLH7kaIN_27muqS91fburA2dkj5teLdGvkGhzDANr9GkdkPmQMoBuOtQ-j4FiJhnyHpO4BIw/w640-h284/TOL%20Blu-ray%20packaging%20(both%20seasons)%20(2022%20reissue).jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>2022 editions.</b></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The specs are identical: you're getting the same exact 11 discs (7 for season one and 4 for season two). Now, I'm assuming that the Season Two set has the corrected version of Disc 1--- in its original release, the episode "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/09/episode-spotlight-soldier-9191964.html">Soldier</a>" had about eight minutes of badly distorted audio (go <a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2018/12/season-two-arrives-on-blu-ray.html">here</a> for a video illustrating the issue). Kino did ultimately step up and offer replacement discs by mail... but man, I sincerely hope they don't repeat the 2018 debacle by slipping in some back stock of the affected discs. They wouldn't do that... right?</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkYStlhjG75LPLlume3VRWzQVuwBtfaolHgXASMQiMkLIh0PyIghjxa3cjCWEmDDVOFRYvDQM9SyC9B-ccAY1VK3qbYxP0Gf4pfA__gngP8VF8pgGL1zJWS5ZZrsN-gQqMKsVzQB0_eBBvhV9mqvRx4ZnQvxydzYd_8nwZWicY6uV-zOvRPSzZ_vYh/s3427/TOL%20Blu-ray%20Media%20Pics%20(both%20seasons)%20(2018%20original).jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1304" data-original-width="3427" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkYStlhjG75LPLlume3VRWzQVuwBtfaolHgXASMQiMkLIh0PyIghjxa3cjCWEmDDVOFRYvDQM9SyC9B-ccAY1VK3qbYxP0Gf4pfA__gngP8VF8pgGL1zJWS5ZZrsN-gQqMKsVzQB0_eBBvhV9mqvRx4ZnQvxydzYd_8nwZWicY6uV-zOvRPSzZ_vYh/w640-h244/TOL%20Blu-ray%20Media%20Pics%20(both%20seasons)%20(2018%20original).jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>2018 editions.</i></b><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Okay, there are two significant differences between the 2018 and 2022 versions. First and foremost, the discs are now housed in standard Blu-ray cases instead of those flappy 'n flimsy Digipack monstrosities. The pic above doesn't fully illustrate their horribleness, so here are my copies, splayed out in all their ugly glory:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yU12zXciiu6WTJM_jl8kPWhOopAO4byVIyDauNUEkLuflmJHqqZOsPDZjX_1kZrO0coLz_549RcZHFoEiSk6zqsij4OZKRzbIhvMBN_vfCQAxu5_OSM_AdrhwH3PQKFNW7lIZgGORLv2X-Mt1E39D9pNBMm5essjxqpmB0UhhXpjRC4c0N2vvv7P/s1440/TOL%20Blu-ray%20packaging%20(both%20seasons)%20(2018%20original).jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="1440" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yU12zXciiu6WTJM_jl8kPWhOopAO4byVIyDauNUEkLuflmJHqqZOsPDZjX_1kZrO0coLz_549RcZHFoEiSk6zqsij4OZKRzbIhvMBN_vfCQAxu5_OSM_AdrhwH3PQKFNW7lIZgGORLv2X-Mt1E39D9pNBMm5essjxqpmB0UhhXpjRC4c0N2vvv7P/w640-h268/TOL%20Blu-ray%20packaging%20(both%20seasons)%20(2018%20original).jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>The horror! THE HORROR!!</i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">Those welcome standard Blu-ray cases are stuffed into what appear to be the same cardboard slipcases from 2018... well almost, but not quite. The MGM logo on the spine is different, and the product ID number below said logo is different (The 2018 editions are K21746 and K21748, respectively, while the 2022 editions are K25911 and K25912). This tells us that they didn't just swap out the Digipacks for standard disc cases... they did a whole new run of modified slipcases, apparently just to change those extremely small details (I haven't seen the backs of the new slipcases, so maybe there's some changes there too). This also means that the new editions are slimmer by almost 50%---- the combined 2018 editions are roughly the width of six standard cases, and the combined 2022 editions contain a total of three standard cases. So hey, I guess they take up less room, if nothing else.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">But these are cosmetic matters. The REAL difference is the fact that the booklets, which included episode guides and essays by DJS himself, have been omitted. This is severely disappointing for several reasons, but one stings particularly badly for Yours Truly---- Schow name-dropped THIS VERY BLOG in both booklets (TWICE in the one for Season Two!). This seems to be a growing trend in Blu-ray releases from boutique labels: they'll pack in a limited edition booklet with the first run of a given title, then drop it for future pressings. So there is at least a precedent for this practice... but dammit, I don't have to like it.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">When the separate season sets were released in 2018, there was some internet grousing about the lack of a Complete Series offering (which, as reported yesterday, Via Vision rectified rather spectacularly with their 2020 release Down Under). In that light, these new Kino editions are more than a bit perplexing. The *only* thing they would've needed to do differently is make a slightly larger slipcase (again, they were already making new slipcases anyway), and <i>voila!</i> A Complete Series set to appease the masses. But you know what? If all they were doing was chucking the Digipacks (which do cost more than standard cases), they could've forewent the slipcase entirely and put all 11 discs into a single case. CBS Home Video did this with their <i>Twilight Zone</i> Complete Series reissue in 2016, and that thing has <b>24</b> discs... in a single case!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQl_AXd1x7nUn0xjkAm3GABcTLOyijJ1_tOT3DMNKM87x8ZPwRXrZLtA3cV3nee5kJBBHtonmQ-kd-S9G9p_SSSfVBYrt_Fc7opGpJL4SzRrT9qVBYn8hj7KUC6QHwaMufTEHF97ukqw2Ax4ZHISfY2TjtyPG49lAKrpnZvrb3t_6MMWg0tMh1WJzI/s12266/TZ%20Blu%20(2016).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="7200" data-original-width="12266" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQl_AXd1x7nUn0xjkAm3GABcTLOyijJ1_tOT3DMNKM87x8ZPwRXrZLtA3cV3nee5kJBBHtonmQ-kd-S9G9p_SSSfVBYrt_Fc7opGpJL4SzRrT9qVBYn8hj7KUC6QHwaMufTEHF97ukqw2Ax4ZHISfY2TjtyPG49lAKrpnZvrb3t_6MMWg0tMh1WJzI/w640-h376/TZ%20Blu%20(2016).jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I'm being a bit facetious here--- those cases are a goddamn NIGHTMARE (and presumably cost even less than standard cases; if they don't, they fucking <i>should</i>). But I do think that combining both seasons into a single release would've increased sales at least somewhat... but you know what? They could've kicked things up a notch higher. Or two. Or ten.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">They could've licensed Via Vision's exclusive content, for starters (detailed yesterday); beyond that, they could've dragged the OLCC (Outer Limits Commentary Crew, not Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission) out of semi-retirement for some all new tracks. And I would LOVE the opportunity to put together a video supplement detailing the various home video releases over the years (I have some, ahem, experience creating Blu-ray documentary featurettes, which Kino knows better than anyone because <b>I'VE BEEN DOING IT FOR THEM FOR THE PAST YEAR</b>). Don't get me wrong, I love Kino Lorber... but they passed on a positively golden opportunity to improve on their previous effort and create a truly remarkable, all-encompassing definitive edition---- which I suspect a fair number of customers would have been happy to upgrade to. I mean, they <i>do</i> wanna make money, right?</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I dunno, I guess they could still do it. These reissues may simply be an attempt to unload their remaining disc stock. Hey, a man can hope against logic, right?</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">* I can't stop thinking about the "Soldier" issue. I'm not sure I'll rest until I verify that the corrected disc is in fact the one in the 2022 reissue of Season Two. There's one sure way to find out, but... aw geez, should I...? </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Okay, it may be the Bloody Mary I had a bit earlier forcing my hand here, but I just pulled the trigger on both 2022 editions (because I'm both an obsessive completist and a fucking idiot, plus I'm now the unofficial custodian of the history of <i>The Outer Limits</i> on home video... which I'll explain in an upcoming entry). I'll report back when they arrive. Keep your fingers crossed, gang.</p>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-24190028381811796222022-10-01T11:29:00.010-07:002022-10-25T10:40:27.534-07:00Via Positiva<p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJynwO3gh6TdOsLGc88tLAAvbyljmr2Szf15KOgMc56Jv9zrVYqu8YNMUrq-6CNt52wmWW2RP6PAvN2Mvy0InD7IiwkhnrHU-Js6Dnh4qAVG-XliDO3ThdhSwHSKLb4uCdvpM8cEOlqOkvRXXME4xVpinjnP7NXZu_MLY6YWj6PLus1k4VR3qRQVqW/s3399/TOL%20Podcast%20-%20Victor%20Motherfuckin%20Gamboa%20DUO.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1888" data-original-width="3399" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJynwO3gh6TdOsLGc88tLAAvbyljmr2Szf15KOgMc56Jv9zrVYqu8YNMUrq-6CNt52wmWW2RP6PAvN2Mvy0InD7IiwkhnrHU-Js6Dnh4qAVG-XliDO3ThdhSwHSKLb4uCdvpM8cEOlqOkvRXXME4xVpinjnP7NXZu_MLY6YWj6PLus1k4VR3qRQVqW/w640-h356/TOL%20Podcast%20-%20Victor%20Motherfuckin%20Gamboa%20DUO.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;">On July 6, 2019, I had the honor of appearing on </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Victor Gamboa</b><span style="font-family: arial;">’s wonderful <i>Outer Limits</i> podcast, where he grilled me at length about my blogs, podcast, and </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Outer Limits</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> Blu-ray commentaries. We had a great chat, which you can hear for yourself <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/craig-beam-interview/id1312801401?i=1000443824444">here</a>. The conversation felt (to me, at least) like a kind of summation on that third item… the work was done, both season sets had been released, we’d been honored with a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award, and… that was it. Hashing it out with Victor seemed to place a nice marker at the end of eight years of exploring my beloved </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Outer Limits</i><span style="font-family: arial;">. It was time to rest.</span></p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i>Ha!</i></b> cackles the universe. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjddZsWHzJzufWeHyCNNJKUpZNwfbUp_7j0OGcNjqaF1-OaHTnElZvHnBHWwS5Z3pTWmm7oApx9Up0uudZKBIv-NKzxVD2kfwyV5wyfQEVkW95AXPx7glURz8v0e7PnOp83qOWFO86KrlJeaYkhQPLz8KMTvi3XS5rv57FV9uj-v_A9M9pM2N-O-x7k/s667/Stefano%20book.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="451" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjddZsWHzJzufWeHyCNNJKUpZNwfbUp_7j0OGcNjqaF1-OaHTnElZvHnBHWwS5Z3pTWmm7oApx9Up0uudZKBIv-NKzxVD2kfwyV5wyfQEVkW95AXPx7glURz8v0e7PnOp83qOWFO86KrlJeaYkhQPLz8KMTvi3XS5rv57FV9uj-v_A9M9pM2N-O-x7k/w216-h320/Stefano%20book.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">A mere six weeks later, DJS notified me that the Australian label </span><a href="https://viavision.com.au/" style="text-align: left;">Via Vision</a><span style="text-align: left;"> was planning their own </span><i style="text-align: left;">Outer Limits</i><span style="text-align: left;"> Blu-ray release Down Under, licensing Kino’s supplements in the process. This presented an interesting opportunity to make the supplemental package even more robust (no mean feat, given the extensive treasure trove already extant). He had a couple of new pieces brewing, including </span><b style="text-align: left;">The Unknown Unknown</b><span style="text-align: left;">, a fascinating glimpse into a newly-discovered early draft of Joseph Stefano’s “<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/05/episode-spotlight-forms-of-things.html">The Forms of Things Unknown</a>” teleplay that includes <i>an actual monster</i> (or bear, in </span><i style="text-align: left;">Outer Limits</i><span style="text-align: left;"> parlance, which is referred to as, simply, The Form; you can read this version in </span><a href="https://www.gauntletpress.com/product/from-the-inner-mind-tothe-outer-limits-scripts-of-joseph-stefano-volume-1/ " style="text-align: left;"><i>From the Inner Mind to... the Outer Limits Scripts of Joseph Stefano, Volume 1</i></a><span style="text-align: left;">, edited by Dave Rash for Gauntlet Press). </span></p></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But DJS wasn’t stopping there. He wanted to provide even more exclusive content in the form of... t</span><span style="font-family: arial;">hat’s right, kids: <i>more</i> audio commentaries, which would be grafted onto the existing Kino disc masters. We’d do a total of three: Film historian and audio commentator of renown Tim Lucas would provide a new track for “</span><a href="https://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/09/episode-spotlight-hundred-days-of.html" style="font-family: arial;">The Hundred Days of the Dragon</a><span style="font-family: arial;">” (to compliment Dr. Reba’s Wissner’s existing track), and DJS and I would join forces for “</span><a href="https://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/09/episode-spotlight-architects-of-fear.html" style="font-family: arial;">The Architects of Fea</a><span style="font-family: arial;">r” and “</span><a href="https://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/10/episode-spotlight-man-who-was-never.html" style="font-family: arial;">The Man Who Was Never Born</a><span style="font-family: arial;">” (both of which already had tracks by Gary Gerani). Why didn’t we cover episodes that <i>didn’t</i> get commentaries the first time around? Valid question, that. As I recall, Lucas had already expressed a desire to explore “Hundred Days,” and... hell, he’s Tim Lucas, so he can basically call his own shots. And it goes without saying that both "Architects” and “Man/Born” are two of the greatest---- if not <i>the</i> greatest--- episodes of the entire series, so both were/are absolutely worthy of additional exploration. So that was the plan, to be executed over the following few months. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So that was mid-August. About a month later (September 13, 2019), Kino took home another prestigious honor--- this time the coveted <a href="https://www.saturnawards.org/">Saturn Award</a>, which is presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, who had deemed the <i>Outer Limits</i> Blu-rays worthy of the Best DVD or Blu-ray Television Movie or Series Release (2018-2019) prize. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbL9b6dO6_ShpvZ654_0BLGIgiWoxjrAXnNjmSYS5y32Wu4fg2IQ8gqzTAFaOPjrC4XhxqSqLeYxo6TDSxrufFGhn2xLaEmpDZjUDtK6ZgzuOMp_CULNNVWF_vex4PNwWduYrqoD01Vm5koY9URAfKuDUHQ2isUgWMzqxsVStHaqeDYVxbTokCjmiX/s1750/Kino%20Saturn%201%20(brightened).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1581" data-original-width="1750" height="578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbL9b6dO6_ShpvZ654_0BLGIgiWoxjrAXnNjmSYS5y32Wu4fg2IQ8gqzTAFaOPjrC4XhxqSqLeYxo6TDSxrufFGhn2xLaEmpDZjUDtK6ZgzuOMp_CULNNVWF_vex4PNwWduYrqoD01Vm5koY9URAfKuDUHQ2isUgWMzqxsVStHaqeDYVxbTokCjmiX/w640-h578/Kino%20Saturn%201%20(brightened).jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Look at that thing! Gorgeous. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So over the next couple of months DJS and I did some preliminary work on our new tracks for Via Vision, and I found myself increasingly doubtful that I could actually pull it off. See, he’s a natural at this kind of thing---- delivering what amounts to a casual lecture with nothing more than a sheaf of notes to periodically glance at--- but me? I need to script everything out in advance, pre-timed down to the second, without improvised comments and nothing off-the-cuff. It seemed daunting (if not downright impossible) to somehow marry our disparate approaches successfully, so he graciously agreed that we'd tackle the tracks separately--- he’d do “The Architects of Fear” and I’d take “The Man Who Was Never Born,” each of us armed with whatever notes the other had assembled thus far. And I’ve gotta say--- we made the right choice. Schow’s "Architects” track is nothing short of stellar, and my “Man/Born” effort.... well, it might be my best <i>Outer Limits</i> track of the eight I’ve done (or it is nine? Stay tuned). And Schow and I would get the chance to record together... but we’ll get into that in a couple of weeks. </span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9M8zAgFSo-FXAq45aqLw8ZhXQ_IbKy9LwbkY73e7MoS-f-2QQhlOm_vJfqsSwsqDQZhnM1P8cGU6P3kXSxxqePB-J43smEOhJWs1taI9nNplUYNBua3MJmMWQuUyTJAJGYsQ9W-IllUdBn4PHN9p3kTj4zDLgYxsWw6G6TU60xK3yZfGoe_wXScl0/s522/WW%20OL%20Blu%20Starfield.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="522" height="383" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9M8zAgFSo-FXAq45aqLw8ZhXQ_IbKy9LwbkY73e7MoS-f-2QQhlOm_vJfqsSwsqDQZhnM1P8cGU6P3kXSxxqePB-J43smEOhJWs1taI9nNplUYNBua3MJmMWQuUyTJAJGYsQ9W-IllUdBn4PHN9p3kTj4zDLgYxsWw6G6TU60xK3yZfGoe_wXScl0/w400-h383/WW%20OL%20Blu%20Starfield.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Via Vision’s <i>Outer Limits</i> release came out in June 2020, and it wasn’t split up in season chunks---- they gave us the whole enchilada in one Complete Series set, with a gorgeous glossy hard box holding it all together. As great as Kino’s efforts were, THIS stands as the ultimate home video presentation of the series. It's nothing short of spectacular. The moment I first held it in my hands, I was momentarily taken back to the earliest days of my <i>Outer Limits</i> fandom, when I was first amassing those beautiful VHS editions, then thrust forward in a heady rush through multiple unsatisfactory DVD editions, standard-def Hulu streams, and finally into the realm of high definition. With the Via Vision set, I felt a tingling and satisfying sense of completion (not that kind, ya perv). I remember how acquiring the <i>Twilight Zone</i> Blu-rays had felt like a cosmic reward of sorts, after decades of buying and rebuying the series. This was that all over again. I don't know what the future of home video looks like---- 4K is obviously a thing, and we're seeing some really great releases... but streaming continues to nip at physical media's heels, and it seems unlikely that classic television will ever make the leap to 4K. And if it never happens... well, this Via Vision set will do nicely. Better than nicely, actually. Honestly, it's better treatment than I ever thought I'd see <i>The Outer Limits</i> receive. It's been over two years, and I still gaze lovingly at it on a regular basis.</div></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyHKB8LNuw7uNXYPtBYRguFc63gn88cK9oChiDzGHlunJc-HD5KYKzVWgqDyf1mHlx0uqNZ8OJPFh5jNKVrDPbQWXjVwsqoP_GEdofUavE9ZlYFWiWqbyf3rB3s40YvHmIg5iHwiMMO3RY306qiyZpovWfLOsnVk4QQpw_E7chsotpvluF_VpJ1Lip/s2968/Shelfish.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2252" data-original-width="2968" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyHKB8LNuw7uNXYPtBYRguFc63gn88cK9oChiDzGHlunJc-HD5KYKzVWgqDyf1mHlx0uqNZ8OJPFh5jNKVrDPbQWXjVwsqoP_GEdofUavE9ZlYFWiWqbyf3rB3s40YvHmIg5iHwiMMO3RY306qiyZpovWfLOsnVk4QQpw_E7chsotpvluF_VpJ1Lip/s320/Shelfish.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: justify;">The Via Vision set is marked as Region B, but fear not, domestic cats: the discs play just fine in a standard Blu-ray player. However, the set is unfortunatetly out of print (which happens when highly-desirable items such as this are limited to 1500 copies). It appears there are still some <a href="https://viavision.com.au/shop/the-outer-limits-the-complete-original-series-dvd/">DVD copies available</a>, but <a href="https://viavision.com.au/shop/the-outer-limits-the-complete-original-series-blu-ray/">the Blu-rays are sold out</a>. I heard a vague rumor that Via Vision may do a second run at some point, but there’s nothing concrete as of this entry. I’ll try to report it here if/when it becomes official, just in case any of you wants/needs this exemplary collection in your possession (and trust me, if you’re reading this blog, you most definitely DO). </div></span></div><div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-family: arial;"><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-family: arial;">Next time</b><span style="font-family: arial;">: Hey, Nice Package. </span></p></div>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-80045165102608732162022-09-24T18:52:00.007-07:002022-09-25T09:19:50.773-07:00The (Ron)dos and (Ron)don'ts of Pathetic Recognition Seeking<p style="text-align: justify;">Everybody loves receiving awards, right? Some sort of tangible proof of accomplishment and subsequent congratulation… a medal, ribbon, trophy, or tchotchke to display proudly, a conversation piece with which to impress one’s friends and family. Something to periodically gaze lovingly at, particularly on days when one finds oneself feeling decidedly less than accomplished, to be reminded that there was a time (even just a single day) when one was, in the eyes of someone else, the best at something. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I’m using the general and nonspecific “one” to describe my theoretical protagonist, but I’m really talking about myself. Me, I, Yours Truly, This Guy Right Here. *I* love awards---- or, more pointedly, the <i><b>idea</b></i> of awards---- having never won one. My dad made me do some kind of non-school-related wrestling thing in the third grade, and I never won a match. I played tennis my senior year of high school and, true to form, I never won a match (hey, at least I was consistent when it came to sports). I did well enough in school to land in the Honor Society, but I never quite managed a 4.0 GPA. I submitted several short stories to various periodicals in my early 20s, but never got published. I entered that annual <a href="https://nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a> thing once... but got cut in the first round.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I’m not characterizing myself as a loser... I’ve just never been a quote-unquote <i>winner</i>. Well, wait. Losing is exactly what you do when you don’t win, right? Okay, fine, I'll own it. Like Beck said---I’m a loser, baby (I’ll stop short of quoting the next line, though, in case I trip some sort of suicide prevention algorithm and get 86'd from Blogger, just like DJS did over on Facebook recently). </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I actively blogged about <i>The Twilight Zone</i> and <i>The Outer Limits</i> for six years straight (which was really five years, since the blogs overlapped during one year, but since I was effectively double-blogging at that point, I’m comfortable calling it six). This entirely homespun enterprise was an endeavor with no inherent means of trophy winning; therefore, my hunger for a displayable commendation of some sort was never triggered. People read the blogs and liked them, and that was enough. But when my blogging mutated into podcasting… well kids, it was an entirely different story. I became aware at some point of the <a href="https://rondoaward.com/rondoaward.com/blog/">Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards</a>, which honors films, television shows, books, home video releases, magazine articles (and, separately, magazine covers), websites and…. yup, even podcasts. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXZ7NY3-n5MThE7wZZANMsVAlFsc_JnANxu5VLdylmPqH_HrB8P195tXCVu8IHwUf7TymCcyg-S0C0pgdgrwaPNUOECkZi8ozzl6A2E3KtcCnl_1sMfjRU_xrYntLhBws2f433K1h83nT13r7au-R2TSm1gJfNi0HPFXmA49T0QKgLMHoNkCosfjqd/s426/Rondo%20Logo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="118" data-original-width="426" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXZ7NY3-n5MThE7wZZANMsVAlFsc_JnANxu5VLdylmPqH_HrB8P195tXCVu8IHwUf7TymCcyg-S0C0pgdgrwaPNUOECkZi8ozzl6A2E3KtcCnl_1sMfjRU_xrYntLhBws2f433K1h83nT13r7au-R2TSm1gJfNi0HPFXmA49T0QKgLMHoNkCosfjqd/w640-h178/Rondo%20Logo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Looking back, it appears I knew about the Rondos even before I launched my podcast. The second DJS <i>Outer Limits</i> opus (<i><b>The Outer Limits at 50</b></i>, now criminally out of print) was nominated in March 2015, mere weeks after this blog wrapped up its core mission with our coverage of "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2015/01/episode-spotlight-probe-1161965.html">The Probe</a>." I even <a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2015/03/david-j-schows-outer-limits-at-50.html">posted about it</a>, demanding that every single reader of these pages vote for it/him... and it appears our efforts had an impact, as his book tied for first place with Tom Weaver's <i>The Creature Chronicles</i> (in an interesting twist, DJS did some behind-the-scenes work on that book as well, so you could say he won for both books). Sadly, by that point I'd completely stopped blogging (except for a few random outbursts later on), so I never covered his victory (sorry, Dave).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLvHKZXGa6l_NOjDUgk44fvpSgFAnotzTAK71OdGJY-aXpiEBke5ZloC5Y90nfsM4eAPlfk4oed_-Ga8p2aSvvXjfx0imi3YiLxMiks53v_ot6b6FwHGfoRTF8KUJ2tMHL5-oUVq5QwgTMMfxaizcMsvcalUyMLQwRsXdcJbaHo9qtDzmTnUrmEVXG/s1080/Rondo%20Lineup.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="1080" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLvHKZXGa6l_NOjDUgk44fvpSgFAnotzTAK71OdGJY-aXpiEBke5ZloC5Y90nfsM4eAPlfk4oed_-Ga8p2aSvvXjfx0imi3YiLxMiks53v_ot6b6FwHGfoRTF8KUJ2tMHL5-oUVq5QwgTMMfxaizcMsvcalUyMLQwRsXdcJbaHo9qtDzmTnUrmEVXG/w640-h373/Rondo%20Lineup.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">As the name implies, the Rondo trophy is a rendering of none other than horror icon <b>Rondo</b><b> Hatton</b> (I'm not going into his fascinating--- and a bit disturbing--- story here. Google him, why don'tcha? Oh screw it, <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=rondo+hatton&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS845US845&oq=rondo+hatton&aqs=chrome..69i57j46i512j69i59j0i20i263i512j0i512l6.4792j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">here you go</a>).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Needless to say, it became a consuming goal of mine to win a Rondo of my very own. Sad and pathetic? Okay, yeah. Again, I'll own it. And it seems the universe heard me: for the first three years of my podcast (2016-2018), I was nominated all three times. Did I win? No. I did, however, land in the Honorable Mention bracket for 2016.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimKfi_syk79WPRBAw9CgPLqIzTOSbU4EpEnaP5FWPTC2uXzz6xah8qHUUwSFwggrVowxaiv7BoWV_DAvNJgPYsGPM0CNcBPV2GDmFMXAcxt8hzzLjop4WHOcVZYFtkdVaemX7rZK3i86DVqfQUBNmEwdTcjY63xtVSHuVa2FYVAtyy-fjVYxAMZjgX/s538/Rondo%202017.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="538" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimKfi_syk79WPRBAw9CgPLqIzTOSbU4EpEnaP5FWPTC2uXzz6xah8qHUUwSFwggrVowxaiv7BoWV_DAvNJgPYsGPM0CNcBPV2GDmFMXAcxt8hzzLjop4WHOcVZYFtkdVaemX7rZK3i86DVqfQUBNmEwdTcjY63xtVSHuVa2FYVAtyy-fjVYxAMZjgX/w400-h275/Rondo%202017.png" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">Pretty cool, right? Gang, that's not even the cool part. In that second year (2017), Kino Lorber released the <i>Outer Limits</i> Blu-ray sets (to which I contributed seven audio commentaries), and both seasons were collectively nominated in the Best Package of DVD Extras category for the 2018 Rondos. This is an award that is typically given to the label, so it was Kino's to win. And they did!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiehKN-s3n_4HnUhbEZaXP3bNV5gtYr4fLRtC4VdpgMoXUBXAWwns7MQl6w2u6VvcNgRCMMw-b6G20sBy4Dd8v5EOpF0bKWMav4jFS6l99TjpOj3Iw6g2_TExSWO9HTkv4WBgyD0Xxdo1xoDJV0Haq7221EQ5mWWiWvXxhW3Xd9DwjDeq0haCugPdz9/s3015/TOL%20Kino%20win%20Kino%20Rondo%20(2018).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1981" data-original-width="3015" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiehKN-s3n_4HnUhbEZaXP3bNV5gtYr4fLRtC4VdpgMoXUBXAWwns7MQl6w2u6VvcNgRCMMw-b6G20sBy4Dd8v5EOpF0bKWMav4jFS6l99TjpOj3Iw6g2_TExSWO9HTkv4WBgyD0Xxdo1xoDJV0Haq7221EQ5mWWiWvXxhW3Xd9DwjDeq0haCugPdz9/w640-h420/TOL%20Kino%20win%20Kino%20Rondo%20(2018).jpg" width="640" /></a></div></div><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZFyoVCaaxFOQxp33QUUy_fGYYrddJh8cHPia_PTSwO5Y8X8l2-pfyc-rsrVaH_5UmzraxrUkBjRO_LCjnEKx_BLw3KXWAG6C6YzbXOuBMWeDPyw6QPQj70gV_RmcTOxz4mybC-QH8ZKPO0vJmgwwkS1m9IomgTOmjIAt2t9-U3CGUOpl9MJsQ3-3/s361/TOL%20Kino%20Win%20Graphic%20(2018)%20TRIMMED.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="354" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZFyoVCaaxFOQxp33QUUy_fGYYrddJh8cHPia_PTSwO5Y8X8l2-pfyc-rsrVaH_5UmzraxrUkBjRO_LCjnEKx_BLw3KXWAG6C6YzbXOuBMWeDPyw6QPQj70gV_RmcTOxz4mybC-QH8ZKPO0vJmgwwkS1m9IomgTOmjIAt2t9-U3CGUOpl9MJsQ3-3/s320/TOL%20Kino%20Win%20Graphic%20(2018)%20TRIMMED.jpeg" width="314" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">However---- in an unprecedented move, the decision was made to bestow Rondo Awards upon <b><i>each</i></b> of the individual contributors to said Package of Extras...</p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">...which means....</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6TqYoTt9-KwhSihXoMAM98nFVOJnrC_9j4GYOixfjXws3IQOJRZ4ffExR23xhQ9ItFOMI2W1NR3SzMZYphZN8MjLESo8S5YO_Uvk4keqfWAzlo90PLtzSC_pdEmsxPNEd_EUpUdk-2UmFPG2VOzLlSnJbNcq9IWSRBaqXSHTrRjHHG_ndS9aQJrH5/s1530/CraB%20Rondo%202%20-%20Rondo%20Harder.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1041" data-original-width="1530" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6TqYoTt9-KwhSihXoMAM98nFVOJnrC_9j4GYOixfjXws3IQOJRZ4ffExR23xhQ9ItFOMI2W1NR3SzMZYphZN8MjLESo8S5YO_Uvk4keqfWAzlo90PLtzSC_pdEmsxPNEd_EUpUdk-2UmFPG2VOzLlSnJbNcq9IWSRBaqXSHTrRjHHG_ndS9aQJrH5/w640-h436/CraB%20Rondo%202%20-%20Rondo%20Harder.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">That's right, I scored myself a goddamned Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award after all! It's weird---- I posted new content in these pages a few times AFTER this incredibly satisfying event took place.... yet I never mentioned it. I have no explanation for this.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiacTUxSClIPxfwgfuH-nk-S1kmq3CTtnb-02MpKZCa8j5YQ5khZQXq-OMjzlfTGiWLEq_yMiubFKgq76zLsvErbPY5qSTwy1qNhJAUeO4FGtPRBBlbhbgPuGGF9nBiGOfXpuNCSkzZfr_PPkeMa3DIovTqb92pizQBrWib0U1UKo8U4QPVQ2j-hRGo/s3265/CraB%20Rondo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2190" data-original-width="3265" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiacTUxSClIPxfwgfuH-nk-S1kmq3CTtnb-02MpKZCa8j5YQ5khZQXq-OMjzlfTGiWLEq_yMiubFKgq76zLsvErbPY5qSTwy1qNhJAUeO4FGtPRBBlbhbgPuGGF9nBiGOfXpuNCSkzZfr_PPkeMa3DIovTqb92pizQBrWib0U1UKo8U4QPVQ2j-hRGo/w640-h430/CraB%20Rondo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">So the question now becomes---- when a loser suddenly wins something, where does he go from there? Stay tuned....</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Next Time:</b> Seven becomes eight, mate. G'day for now!</p>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-66960927641974727912022-09-17T09:15:00.002-07:002022-09-20T21:55:05.897-07:00Ave atque vale, Henry. <p style="text-align: center;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>David J. Schow</b> sent out the following communique yesterday:</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>It sucks supremely to announce the death of an </i>OUTER LIMITS<i> player on the 59th anniversary of the premiere of the show itself -- September 16th -- but that's what happened: </i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7bdnGMmS5rr4QXddUU3L4tW09HqsV0Ao-RrJihwNMwi6Ajd3F9LCsj86_urGOcIVeNUVVoiDVH4QJyN2JVOmpHX6RfACW6AHltpkAubnGgafP2gg3Mz8k7QnCF9ftx-J06S8ubhflJkl-kvd99UMO4AbCImNqaA4kbssOSdTcHeE2hfkEHTA0Y2z/s1346/SILVA%20-%209-16-2022.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1346" data-original-width="1202" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7bdnGMmS5rr4QXddUU3L4tW09HqsV0Ao-RrJihwNMwi6Ajd3F9LCsj86_urGOcIVeNUVVoiDVH4QJyN2JVOmpHX6RfACW6AHltpkAubnGgafP2gg3Mz8k7QnCF9ftx-J06S8ubhflJkl-kvd99UMO4AbCImNqaA4kbssOSdTcHeE2hfkEHTA0Y2z/w572-h640/SILVA%20-%209-16-2022.png" width="572" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">I first met Henry at Joe Stefano's house during a holiday gathering at which several </i><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">OUTER LIMITS</span><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"> alumni were in attendance. I dragged him back to Joe's office to show him his photos and citations in </i><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">THE OUTER LIMITS COMPANION</span><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and he was thrilled to discover </i><b style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">"hey, wait, there's really a book?!</b><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><b style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Henry was ported over from Leslie Stevens' </i><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">STONEY BURKE</span><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"> -- where he played an assassin in the pilot episode for "The Weapons Man" in 1963: </i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCXx0P9fg035FXe8YGbZJgsoF1PpYRTWgnEm9-ZZZ33VpJ07Xtj0D5KwExC9z00BT5Rg2u6D_b5f3lcE3ISeQz_Qr3q2B0kfAx3_mUgNhPFU2J7HKvWLUjZ6WePhweJGgJnp14zqvWjp6R9aQxDYKPKHJY30k_kJBEA7Q2QJeRmiTKnUgiVw6IfrsW/s720/The%20Weapons%20Man.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCXx0P9fg035FXe8YGbZJgsoF1PpYRTWgnEm9-ZZZ33VpJ07Xtj0D5KwExC9z00BT5Rg2u6D_b5f3lcE3ISeQz_Qr3q2B0kfAx3_mUgNhPFU2J7HKvWLUjZ6WePhweJGgJnp14zqvWjp6R9aQxDYKPKHJY30k_kJBEA7Q2QJeRmiTKnUgiVw6IfrsW/w640-h480/The%20Weapons%20Man.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><br /><i><br /></i></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then he was tyrannical despot General Juan Mercurio in the </i><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">OUTER LIMITS</span><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"> episode "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/12/episode-spotlight-tourist-attraction.html">Tourist Attraction</a>." </i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX59e-QHoodL8bUg3XJ_LYyL4UEMBaqEcgTiP1RA9Ep1ezZlypgEVLZQ6hDTvBU3aO9ujDQxDoeeSCsi7FhvVUlCmahwdYOJWUb_UCl-zhreuJW8GB1H4yAcNNK8daN9W5eAVFe3m5hoL-_b0MvDMMeCkzy4c2oLuU2PYa6voF3iwXi3ucCx4-_Kwa/s1436/Tourist%20Attraction.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1436" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX59e-QHoodL8bUg3XJ_LYyL4UEMBaqEcgTiP1RA9Ep1ezZlypgEVLZQ6hDTvBU3aO9ujDQxDoeeSCsi7FhvVUlCmahwdYOJWUb_UCl-zhreuJW8GB1H4yAcNNK8daN9W5eAVFe3m5hoL-_b0MvDMMeCkzy4c2oLuU2PYa6voF3iwXi3ucCx4-_Kwa/w640-h480/Tourist%20Attraction.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><br /><i><br /></i></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">And at his most magnificent as Chino Rivera in "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/01/episode-spotlight-mice-1061964.html">The Mice</a>." </i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhesd863I6mqXCM8pCp31NrGM3wStF1_eUXAP03wPL4BDOz7g_d0wBrY4RtkKGPqAQDcG6Ue_dxIdeyjdn6_p19AYCeU8BL_K9YpkF1vDqK2JaesLuRkhm7PpTbmexV-SgZMxglLo-ydkRPVEeD3jINU18HdfyU7ztEB5UeD4cz9xj0KWg60iko8HOl/s1426/The%20Mice.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1426" height="485" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhesd863I6mqXCM8pCp31NrGM3wStF1_eUXAP03wPL4BDOz7g_d0wBrY4RtkKGPqAQDcG6Ue_dxIdeyjdn6_p19AYCeU8BL_K9YpkF1vDqK2JaesLuRkhm7PpTbmexV-SgZMxglLo-ydkRPVEeD3jINU18HdfyU7ztEB5UeD4cz9xj0KWg60iko8HOl/w640-h485/The%20Mice.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><br /><i><br /></i></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ave atque vale, Henry. </i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Schow provided a bit of clarification later that same day:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">COLD COMFORT INDEED, but apparently Henry died on the 14th... so NOT on the anniversary. </i><i style="font-family: Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Still immeasurably sad, but people should take note regardless... </i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aside from his OUTER LIMITS and STONEY BURKE appearances, I'll always remember his <i>mano a mano</i> tussle with none other than Frank Sinatra in 1962's THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="351" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sTcofHd5IlE" width="552" youtube-src-id="sTcofHd5IlE"></iframe></div><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant-ligatures: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p>Rest in peace, Mr. Silva. And on the subject of "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/12/episode-spotlight-tourist-attraction.html">Tourist Attraction</a>"... well, stay tuned.</span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-23858564779076663682022-09-16T00:01:00.145-07:002022-09-16T05:12:51.468-07:00The Outer Limits at 59<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">'Sup? It's, uh, been a while. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">You may have noticed that, after remaining static and unchanged for at least a decade, the banner at the top of this blog is suddenly and markedly different. What gives? What’s the point? It’s been over three years since I last posted anything, and almost eight years since the mission of this blog---- the examination and celebration of each <i>Outer Limits</i> episode on its fiftieth anniversary--- was fulfilled. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Valid questions, those. If you peruse the comments that follow each post, you’ll see that the extended community aspect of the blog never really died. People still find this blog after all this time, still share their thoughts on the episodes and, most gratifyingly (for yours truly), leave kind and often glowing comments on my work here. Sheesh, just look at that page views counter over to the right! The virtual corpse may be cold, but somewhere deep inside, a warm heart still beats. In light of that, I’ve wanted to check back in for some time now. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyfA4uGaR6u04G3GEx6hHUWi4olyatd2cbMWODfAdCE0x-4Nqng3C818WVUK643GWsEZeUAa_5kpr1XyCHOA2D9bWHKNZDjzRDI-yKTElWmtSIwYVn8sf1FHJai9O7DutVJCnUNlisTkvYLFfifm06hnp_XyDbOy_3fhp-1Yuk3lTRYBVLUQOCRXdp/s1462/The%20Galaxy%20Being%20Duo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="1462" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyfA4uGaR6u04G3GEx6hHUWi4olyatd2cbMWODfAdCE0x-4Nqng3C818WVUK643GWsEZeUAa_5kpr1XyCHOA2D9bWHKNZDjzRDI-yKTElWmtSIwYVn8sf1FHJai9O7DutVJCnUNlisTkvYLFfifm06hnp_XyDbOy_3fhp-1Yuk3lTRYBVLUQOCRXdp/w640-h244/The%20Galaxy%20Being%20Duo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Plus today is the 59th (!) anniversary of the show’s inaugural broadcast: </span><a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/09/episode-spotlight-galaxy-being-9161963.html" style="font-family: arial;">“The Galaxy Being”</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> first aired on September 16, 1963, so I should probably mark the occasion in some way (I, um, haven't watched it since my 50th anniversary spotlight exactly nine years ago, so I'm gonna try to throw it on at some point today). In addition to that, well... perhaps it's time I finally circle back to where it all started and do some blogging. But first, a quick glance backward. Cue the </span><b style="font-family: arial;"><i>PREVIOUSLY ON…</i></b><span style="font-family: arial;"> montage! </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's been a few years. Where were we? </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkpNVUGEiq5F0kK2ZLMFHXKP8WtpCaEl6hg4_o1_11I_OGPhKv9HJVmCyEr2ZVjCDcGiY1PEKM8E1-TeuoMe15Hv0PQAJTaPz1nYeazlFT0ZfwyifI6wc08O6upWcWfR2yRi6lXxydl1YMoos03sE1WnP2jhXgnB1VSl4Y6wh6sV2s46I-52R6XZvo/s2363/Kino%20Blu-ray%20Duo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1538" data-original-width="2363" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkpNVUGEiq5F0kK2ZLMFHXKP8WtpCaEl6hg4_o1_11I_OGPhKv9HJVmCyEr2ZVjCDcGiY1PEKM8E1-TeuoMe15Hv0PQAJTaPz1nYeazlFT0ZfwyifI6wc08O6upWcWfR2yRi6lXxydl1YMoos03sE1WnP2jhXgnB1VSl4Y6wh6sV2s46I-52R6XZvo/w640-h416/Kino%20Blu-ray%20Duo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It looks like my last dispatches mostly involved the Blu-ray releases from Kino Lorber in 2018, for which I contributed seven audio commentaries (</span><a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/11/episode-spotlight-obit-11041963.html" style="font-family: arial;">"O.B.I.T.,"</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2013/11/episode-spotlight-corpus-earthling.html" style="font-family: arial;">"Corpus Earthling,"</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/02/episode-spotlight-specimen-unknown.html" style="font-family: arial;">"Specimen: Unknown,"</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/09/episode-spotlight-cold-hands-warm-heart.html" style="font-family: arial;">"Cold Hands, Warm Heart,"</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/10/episode-spotlight-demon-with-glass-hand.html" style="font-family: arial;">"Demon with a Glass Hand,"</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/10/episode-spotlight-invisible-enemy.html" style="font-family: arial;">"The Invisible Enemy"</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> and </span><a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/11/episode-spotlight-wolf-359-11071964.html" style="font-family: arial;">"Wolf 359"</a><span style="font-family: arial;">). I got that gig as a direct result of writing this blog (well, okay, I was also actively doing a podcast at the time, so I already possessed the necessary equipment and at least a modicum of experience yammering into a microphone... at least, that’s probably how </span><b style="font-family: arial;">David J. Schow</b><span style="font-family: arial;"> convinced Kino to let me join in the supplement shenanigans). Seriously gang, doing those commentaries was the honor of a lifetime, the culmination of decades of fandom and several years of parlaying said fandom into blogging and podcasting… a veritable Cinderella story, if you will. As glorious as the experience was, I was pretty sure---- no, I was stone-cold <i>certain</i>--- that I’d never get to do anything like that again. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But you know... sometimes it’s okay to be wrong; in fact, sometimes it’s <i>better</i> than okay. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Here’s what I’m planning (in my typical half-assed, off-the-cuff fashion)---- weekly posts (maybe twice weekly, but no promises) in which I'll detail the various opportunities and projects that have come my way as a direct result of those <i>Outer Limits</i> commentaries... which sprang to life from seeds sown right here in these virtual pages. In fact, everything I've done over the past several years can be traced back to this blog (and my similar <a href="http://mylifeintheshadowofthetwilightzone.blogspot.com/"><i>Twilight Zone</i> blog</a>), so it seems appropriate to document it all here. Hopefully none of it will come off as bragging, but... well, I've done some pretty cool stuff since last we spoke. This doesn’t mean that the blog is back for good…. think of this as a limited revival event, a multi-part catching up-slash-continuation (sorta like <i>The X-files</i> and <i>Twin Peaks</i> did). After that… well, who knows? The show’s 60th anniversary is exactly one year from today, so maybe I’ll…. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">…well… </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Nope, dammit. I’m <b>not </b>committing to revisiting each episode on its 60th birthday. I won’t rule it out entirely, but right now it sounds impossible. I don’t know how I managed it back then. Plus... would I have anything new to say? I kinda doubt it.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Next time:</b> <i>(Ron)do or (Ron)do not. There is no try</i>. It'll make sense in context, I promise.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-52991627681344155382019-05-27T12:05:00.000-07:002019-05-27T12:05:08.385-07:00Happy birthday, Harlan Ellison (5/27/1934 - 6/27/2018)The name Harlan Ellison is no stranger to fans of The Outer Limits: he penned two of the best second season episodes. Did I say "two of"? I meant THE two best.<br />
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"<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/09/episode-spotlight-soldier-9191964.html">Soldier</a>" and "<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/10/episode-spotlight-demon-with-glass-hand.html">Demon with a Glass Hand</a>." But you knew that, right?<br />
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Anyway--- Harlan would've been 85 today. I stumbled across a brilliant video tour of his house, conducted by (of all people) Robin Williams.<br />
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I wasn't aware the two were friends. Hopefully somewhere, beyond this sad, shallow life, they are celebrating Harlan's big 8-5 together.Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-21267813803070787882019-03-23T20:24:00.002-07:002019-03-23T20:38:31.658-07:00VOTE FOR US!!!!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: justify;">Our (okay, MY) Twilight Zone podcast, </span><b style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://zonepod.tumblr.com/">Between Light and Shadow,</a></b><span style="text-align: justify;"> has once again been nominated for a coveted </span><a href="https://rondoaward.com/rondoaward.com/blog/?p=741" style="text-align: justify;"><b>Rondo Hatton Horror Award</b></a><span style="text-align: justify;">. I hope longtime readers of this blog are also faithful listeners of the podcast... I also hope (rather fervently) that each and every one of you will cast a vote in our favor. We're up against some seriously stiff competition (including Tom Elliot's The Twilight Zone Podcast, which won last year), but I think we can take it... with YOUR help. Please take a couple of minutes to click on the link above (or </span><a href="https://rondoaward.com/rondoaward.com/blog/?p=741" style="text-align: justify;"><b>here</b></a><span style="text-align: justify;">, if you're extra lazy) and cast your vote for us (okay, ME). All it takes is a quick email to taraco@aol.com.I highly encourage you to look through all the categories and nominees and vote for some (or all) of them, but MAKE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you indicate that in Category #20 (Best Multimedia Site, which podcasts fall under) you vote for Between Light and Shadow: A Twilight Zone Podcast. It's the first one on the list, so you can't miss it. 2019 is the 60th Anniversary of The Twilight Zone, so a vote for us (okay, ME) is actually a vote for both the series and the legacy of Rod Serling himself. The deadline is April 20th, so go vote RIGHT NOW while you're thinking about it. I really need a win, gang. This is the third year in a row we've (okay, I'VE) been nominated, and I really want to believe that the third time's the charm. Thanks in advance, and kids... play nice.</span><br />
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<br />Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-52084264590382147812019-03-07T19:32:00.001-08:002019-03-07T19:32:33.305-08:00Something to Quench Your Thirst...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFlGxBb0CyfKZp4V_wyrnOLeUPnU52M27UvSkTgQeUeQK2Hv4TB5UaRyxTTR63owszOgNso1EENfWXwA6-tnRj2LsVSLHYGlhsNkTHSW5p2aoNYcGq5IiCHncIpQMo2QxuxBfrCchQPjQ/s1600/Bloodthirst+%2528Luminoid%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="702" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFlGxBb0CyfKZp4V_wyrnOLeUPnU52M27UvSkTgQeUeQK2Hv4TB5UaRyxTTR63owszOgNso1EENfWXwA6-tnRj2LsVSLHYGlhsNkTHSW5p2aoNYcGq5IiCHncIpQMo2QxuxBfrCchQPjQ/s200/Bloodthirst+%2528Luminoid%2529.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Astute readers possessive of eidetic memories may recall that my spotlight on "</span><a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/04/episode-spotlight-feasibility-study.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">A Feasibility Study</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">" almost five years ago (!) observed that the Luminoid mask resurfaced in BLOOD THIRST, a low-budget horror flick shot in The Philippines in 1965 but not released until 1971 where, according to </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Thirst" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Wikipedia</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">, it was seen mostly on the grindhouse circuit (so I guess Quentin Tarantino is probably familiar with it). I've personally never seen it, but I was made aware of it by Outer Limits Grand Poobah David J. Schow, so I was able to include it in my write-up... after which I completely forgot about it. Until just a few minutes ago.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been on this kick lately which has found me obsessively collecting sci-fi B (and C, and sometimes even D) movies from the 50's and 60's on Blu-ray, which naturally let me to 1959's THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS, which featured a monster design that, um, borrowed components from THIS ISLAND EARTH (the feet of the Metaluna Mutant) and THE MOLE PEOPLE (the clawed hands of the Beasts of the Dark). I started thinking about all the times THE OUTER LIMITS reused bits of alien and monster costumes, and then I remembered the Luminoid reprise. So I hit Amazon, hoping to find a Blu-ray release to add to my collection.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3kpscc90hs_BlBwKQA1Qm0Oy2lf0yrFN1b3oDsuc_RoHAsHT-eDTyAnhu0XEovUNGsAloxR7oKJpY0_zw4tL0XTu8ip3Ru3yLnB82oKdQ5FLOVpOpxgvZx_63n5XSFCcrnx5Cv518ias/s1600/615Y2F9950L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="336" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3kpscc90hs_BlBwKQA1Qm0Oy2lf0yrFN1b3oDsuc_RoHAsHT-eDTyAnhu0XEovUNGsAloxR7oKJpY0_zw4tL0XTu8ip3Ru3yLnB82oKdQ5FLOVpOpxgvZx_63n5XSFCcrnx5Cv518ias/s200/615Y2F9950L.jpg" width="140" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Turns out there is a DVD available from Something Weird Video, a double feature with 1971's BLOOD SUCKERS (aka INCENSE FOR THE DAMNED), but... okay, here's where I start to sound like a home theater snob. I don't want it on DVD. I want it in high definition. Yes, I know it's an ultra-low budget film that couldn't possibly look good, much less great. Right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wrong. My Amazon spelunking turned up a streaming version, free for Amazon Prime Members (like me)... in HD. And hell, it looks pretty spectacular, especially if you've suffered through the horrific YouTube versions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So if you're an Amazon Prime Member, and you find yourself achingly curious about this cinematic curiosity... well, you know what to do. I'm certainly gonna watch it, if not tonight then this weekend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, and if you're curious, <a href="http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/a-d/bloodsuckers.htm">here</a>'s a review of that Something Weird DVD release, which is apparently pretty great. So maybe I should order it (it's only <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Suckers-Thirst-Special/dp/B00005KH3C/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=blood+suckers%2Fblood+thirst&qid=1552015403&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull">$6.71 on Amazon</a> as of this writing) and stop being such a goddamned HD elitist.</span></div>
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<br />Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-16534574124901279622018-12-04T20:16:00.000-08:002018-12-07T06:14:53.299-08:00Season Two arrives on Blu-ray!Hey gang.... yeah, I know, it's been a DAMN long time since I've posted anything. Sue me.<br />
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So THE OUTER LIMITS Season Two has dropped, and it's magnificent.* Don't believe me? Just ask Glenn Erickson, the esteemed CineSavant himself:<br />
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<a href="https://trailersfromhell.com/the-outer-limits-season-two/?fbclid=IwAR2tgIu2Qr4ae6-cGpzdxLJ3DSpD9hfC2mLtoi7etum0Vw_5yxgQagkpWxo"><b>CineSavant Review</b></a><br />
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Yours truly recorded four, count 'em, FOUR commentary tracks this time around (after contributing three for the Season One set earlier this year). You'll hear my annoying voice droning on incessantly on the following episodes:<br />
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<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/09/episode-spotlight-cold-hands-warm-heart.html">Cold Hands, Warm Heart</a><br />
<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/10/episode-spotlight-demon-with-glass-hand.html">Demon with a Glass Hand</a><br />
<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/10/episode-spotlight-invisible-enemy.html">The Invisible Enemy</a><br />
<a href="http://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/2014/11/episode-spotlight-wolf-359-11071964.html">Wolf 359</a><br />
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I dunno, maybe these are a bit better than my season one offerings...? I dunno, I'm way too close to these things to possess any semblance of an impartial view.<br />
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Longtime readers of the blog will recall my frequent MGM-bashing over the lack of a Blu-ray release for the series, especially when the show turned 50. The series turns 55 this year (actually, it already did, back on September 15th), so I guess the additional five years didn't kill me. My ire is still as strong as ever toward MGM, though, since they aren't even the ones releasing these sets.... we can all thank Kino Lorber for that.<br />
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* There's a bit of an audio problem on the episode "Soldier." The entirety of act two is marred by bad audio. I mean, like, REALLY bad. It starts out okay, then gradually blooms into full-on obnoxious-as-hell warbling. Check it out:<br />
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Kino will be offering replacement discs in early 2019, so don't let this gaff stop you from purchasing. </div>
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Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-14088203907443805952018-03-26T18:58:00.000-07:002018-03-26T19:01:46.230-07:00On This, the Eve of the Season One Blu-ray Release...<span style="text-align: justify;">I was interviewed about a week ago about my involvement with the Blu-ray release of The Outer Limits Season One (which streets tomorrow!), and the interview went live today. Check it out!</span><br />
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<b><a href="https://boston.edgemedianetwork.com/entertainment/television//257681/control_voices_from_beyond_::_craig_beam_on_the_outer_limits_season_one_on_blu-ray">Control Voices from Beyond: Craig Beam on 'The Outer Limits' Season One on Blu-ray</a></b></div>
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Here's a much larger version of the (quite tiny) picture of me they used. My old friend <b>Martin ScorZanti</b> is clearly the better looking.</div>
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<br />Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-61919499677310720162018-03-17T16:36:00.001-07:002018-03-17T16:37:21.375-07:00A few quick comparisons....DVD on the left, Blu-ray on the right. Click on 'em for the full-sizedness.<br />
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<br />Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-1366928940616870092018-03-14T18:21:00.005-07:002018-03-14T18:21:47.818-07:00Is this the day?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes. Yes it is.</span><br />
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<br />Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-22517882060244098472018-03-13T12:57:00.000-07:002018-03-13T15:09:16.793-07:00First Blu-ray Review Is Up!<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Two weeks from today, the legendary first season of The Outer Limits will be released on Blu-ray.... and the first review is up! </span><a href="https://cinesavant.com/" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">CineSavant</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> himself </span><b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Glenn Erickson</b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> gives the set a pretty thorough rundown, and (spoiler alert) it's a glowingly positive review. Well, what are you waiting for? Click, man, CLICK!</span></div>
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<b><a href="https://trailersfromhell.com/the-outer-limits-season-one/"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Glenn Erickson's review</span></a></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He even mentions me--- well, not by name, but...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"Kino has produced a tall stack of audio commentaries for the boxed set, covering more than two thirds of the episodes. Unchallenged </i>OL<i> master David J. Schow takes on many of the top titles, and gives us authoritative reportage on the careers of Leslie Stevens and Joseph Stefano. Tim Lucas adds his brand of analysis and insight to other well-known hits, often citing surprising sources of inspiration for episodes, and connecting </i>OL<i> shows to later classic works. The other commentators range from knowledgeable authors, to specialists in TV music and art direction, to <b>a super-fan blogger who knows his territory as well as anybody.</b>"</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That's definitely me (I'm the only blogger on the roster, so...!). So between being listed as a "film historian" on the back cover and this, I may be in serious danger of developing a <a href="https://mylifeintheglowoftheouterlimits.blogspot.com/search/label/Gwyllm%20Griffiths">Gwyllm Griffiths</a>-sized swollen head...!</span><br />
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Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.com1