Category: Movies

Dune Cards

November 19, 2015

You may recall I purchased the above last month at comic con. A full box of 36 unopened Dune cards from 1984. I never even knew the set existed, and the guy who sold it to me said he had a case of it!

I managed to complete the 132 card set in 25 packs, although with a bit of luck it could have happened in about 18. That’s very good collation, and there may even be two sets in the box.

The cards themselves are no nonsense, with a good quality picture on the front and lots of words – like the film itself – on the back. I reckon I wouldn’t have loved them as a kid though: not enough hardware or monsters.

The stickers though are amazing, and there is an incredible 44 of them! You won’t be completing this set in one box. However the passage of 31 years has had a distressing effect on the stick of gum, bonding it to the sticker on a molecular level. It’s essentially impossible to remove without damaging the sticker 🙁

Look at the lovely backs of the stickers, like tokens from some tabletop Dune RPG:

Lovely stuff.

Some of you will no doubt be mystified by my love of opening trading cards like these, but this Dune set checked all the boxes. I don’t even remember what I paid for it, but I’m glad I did 🙂

Force Friday

September 4, 2015

Today was ‘Force Friday’, which was the heavily marketed release day for the first toys from the upcoming Star Wars film. It was a bit of a big deal, and while many shops had midnight launch events I stayed in bed and waited until after work to spend my cash.

Everywhere I went the in-store advertising was abundant, with special props going to Target for their full size animated BB-8 droid (lower left in the photo) as well as the way they replaced some of their register belts with Star Wars scrolling text belts:

I’ve always been a Star Wars fan. It has never waned, and I can’t deny a tremendous anticipation for the new film. I’m also a sucker for merchandise of all sorts, and spent a few hours today driving around several stores since there seemed to be different stuff everywhere.

So what did I buy…?

That’s the boring stuff. Two action figures, a mini model of one of the new Tie Fighters, and a placemat 🙂

Slightly more interesting was that balloon. I bought it since I hadn’t seen (and liked) the Drew Struzan art on it 🙂

Those are ‘collectable game pieces’ sold blind in packs of five. The games is a bit like dominoes but we love the fact they are magnetic! With the addition of a few tiny little magnets our fridge will now be covered in flashy Star Wars hexagons!

Avoid the blind-packed micro machine toys. Even at $2 they are terrible. The one shown is The Force Awakens heroine Rey on some sort of speeder.

Dog tags are always fun! I guess this confirms C3PO to be in the new film.

The less said about the above the better…

…but wouldn’t it make a fine Christmas gift?

This was my second favourite purchase of today. One thing I was surprised by was how much new merchandise of all sorts there was – not just Force Awakens stuff. These Lego kits are based on the old Bionicle style and look great, but Grievous is far and away the best of the bunch.

My favourite purchase was this children’s meal set, which will now be added to our cupboard alongside five (!) other SW meal sets dating back to ’99 when Episode 1 came out!

Look at that plate! Look at the cereal bowl with Kylo Ren and Phasma on it! And what about the First Order Tie Fighter on the cup?! Lovely stuff all of it 🙂

As I said: lifelong fan!

That’s something I didn’t buy: a $150 four foot talking Vader model. Pretty cool eh?

There’s one item though I should have bought, and probably will, and that’s the new Lego First Order Tie Fighter. I guess I just love the black and white design too much!

So readers, what did you pick up on Force Friday?

A Mystery Finally Solved!

August 19, 2015

I like Mark Gatiss. While there’s no doubt he’s a bit of a genre gadfly, he’s certainly literature, accomplished, and seems to share a lot of my interests. A lifelong fan of horror and science fiction, he’s forged a career in writing and acting that includes such shows as (new) Doctor Who and Sherlock. I’ve liked most of his work, read a couple of his books, and watched (or listened to) quite a few of his documentaries. In short, this is a guy worth paying attention to. Plus, Jon Pertwee is His Doctor too.

Yesterday I watched his three-episode History of Horror series that he made for BBC some years back. It’s all on YouTube, but if you only watch one episode I recommend the second. As I watched it yesterday I felt a great sense of relief wash over me as a lifelong mystery was solved.

Let’s cut back about 30-something years. It was a dark night, past our bedtime, and mum and dad had started watching a horror movie. Being a bit of a (nascent) buff, I wanted to watch as well, and sat down with them to enjoy it. I recall shots of fields and forests, and someone plowing a field, and then a terrifying and eerie shot of a skull with a living eye in it. This very shot, to be specific:

It terrified me, and I’m sure you can see why. Mum quickly changed the channel and packed us off to bed, but I didn’t forget the image quickly. In fact I never forgot it, and have wondered for my entire life what the film was and why the farmer found this in his field and what happened next! I’d made attempts over the years to deduce the identity of the film, and have watched countless british horror films of the 1960s and 70s always wondering when – if! – I’d find the one with this unforgettable image.

Until yesterday the mystery was unsolved. But thanks to Gatiss’ documentary, I now know the identity of the film:

The film is called Satan’s Skin or The Blood On Satan’s Claw and was made in England in 1970. It seems like an entirely disturbing and remarkable horror film about a rural village influenced to depravity and evil by The Devil. I think it’s quite right that my mum didn’t let me watch it 30+ years ago!

Of course now I know the identity of the film the next step is to actually watch it. This may prove difficult due to the DVD being out of print and the Blu-Ray being UK region only (and very expensive). It’s not available on Amazon prime either. But I’m a patient sort, and it’s now added to my list of other films that I intend to one day sit down and enjoy. I wonder if I’ll find it as creepy now as I did when I was a child?

Robot Claw