The (Ron)dos and (Ron)don'ts of Pathetic Recognition Seeking

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. 

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 idea 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 NaNoWriMo thing once... but got cut in the first round.

I’m not characterizing myself as a loser... I’ve just never been a quote-unquote winner. 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). 

I actively blogged about The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits 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 Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards, which honors films, television shows, books, home video releases, magazine articles (and, separately, magazine covers), websites and…. yup, even podcasts. 

Looking back, it appears I knew about the Rondos even before I launched my podcast. The second DJS Outer Limits opus (The Outer Limits at 50, now criminally out of print) was nominated in March 2015, mere weeks after this blog wrapped up its core mission with our coverage of "The Probe." I even posted about it, 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 The Creature Chronicles (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).

As the name implies, the Rondo trophy is a rendering of none other than horror icon Rondo Hatton (I'm not going into his fascinating--- and a bit disturbing--- story here. Google him, why don'tcha? Oh screw it, here you go).

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.

Pretty cool, right? Gang, that's not even the cool part. In that second year (2017), Kino Lorber released the Outer Limits 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!

However---- in an unprecedented move, the decision was made to bestow Rondo Awards upon each of the individual contributors to said Package of Extras...

...which means....

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.

So the question now becomes---- when a loser suddenly wins something, where does he go from there? Stay tuned....

Next Time: Seven becomes eight, mate. G'day for now!

Ave atque vale, Henry.

David J. Schow sent out the following communique yesterday:

It sucks supremely to announce the death of an OUTER LIMITS player on the 59th anniversary of the premiere of the show itself -- September 16th -- but that's what happened: 

I first met Henry at Joe Stefano's house during a holiday gathering at which several OUTER LIMITS alumni were in attendance. I dragged him back to Joe's office to show him his photos and citations in THE OUTER LIMITS COMPANION, and he was thrilled to discover "hey, wait, there's really a book?!" 

Henry was ported over from Leslie Stevens' STONEY BURKE -- where he played an assassin in the pilot episode for "The Weapons Man" in 1963: 

Then he was tyrannical despot General Juan Mercurio in the OUTER LIMITS episode "Tourist Attraction." 

And at his most magnificent as Chino Rivera in "The Mice." 

Ave atque vale, Henry. 

Schow provided a bit of clarification later that same day:

COLD COMFORT INDEED, but apparently Henry died on the 14th... so NOT on the anniversary. Still immeasurably sad, but people should take note regardless... 

Aside from his OUTER LIMITS and STONEY BURKE appearances, I'll always remember his mano a mano tussle with none other than Frank Sinatra in 1962's THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE:

Rest in peace, Mr. Silva. And on the subject of "Tourist Attraction"... well, stay tuned.

The Outer Limits at 59

'Sup? It's, uh, been a while. 

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 Outer Limits episode on its fiftieth anniversary--- was fulfilled. 

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. 

Plus today is the 59th (!) anniversary of the show’s inaugural broadcast: “The Galaxy Being” 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 PREVIOUSLY ON… montage! 

It's been a few years. Where were we? 

It looks like my last dispatches mostly involved the Blu-ray releases from Kino Lorber in 2018, for which I contributed seven audio commentaries ("O.B.I.T.," "Corpus Earthling," "Specimen: Unknown," "Cold Hands, Warm Heart," "Demon with a Glass Hand," "The Invisible Enemy" and "Wolf 359"). 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 David J. Schow 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 certain--- that I’d never get to do anything like that again. 

But you know... sometimes it’s okay to be wrong; in fact, sometimes it’s better than okay. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself.  

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 Outer Limits 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 Twilight Zone blog), 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 The X-files and Twin Peaks did). After that… well, who knows? The show’s 60th anniversary is exactly one year from today, so maybe I’ll…. 

…well… 

Nope, dammit. I’m not 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.

Next time: (Ron)do or (Ron)do not. There is no try. It'll make sense in context, I promise.

Happy 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.

"Soldier" and "Demon with a Glass Hand." But you knew that, right?

Anyway--- Harlan would've been 85 today. I stumbled across a brilliant video tour of his house, conducted by (of all people) Robin Williams.

I wasn't aware the two were friends. Hopefully somewhere, beyond this sad, shallow life, they are celebrating Harlan's big 8-5 together.

VOTE FOR US!!!!!!

Our (okay, MY) Twilight Zone podcast, Between Light and Shadow, has once again been nominated for a coveted Rondo Hatton Horror Award. 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 here, 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.

Something to Quench Your Thirst...

Astute readers possessive of eidetic memories may recall that my spotlight on "A Feasibility Study" 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 Wikipedia, 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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Oh, and if you're curious, here's a review of that Something Weird DVD release, which is apparently pretty great. So maybe I should order it (it's only $6.71 on Amazon as of this writing) and stop being such a goddamned HD elitist.

Season Two arrives on Blu-ray!

Hey gang.... yeah, I know, it's been a DAMN long time since I've posted anything. Sue me.

So THE OUTER LIMITS Season Two has dropped, and it's magnificent.* Don't believe me? Just ask Glenn Erickson, the esteemed CineSavant himself:

CineSavant Review

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:

Cold Hands, Warm Heart
Demon with a Glass Hand
The Invisible Enemy
Wolf 359

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.

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.



* 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:

Kino will be offering replacement discs in early 2019, so don't let this gaff stop you from purchasing.