What was the first shared universe? The answer may be surprising (unless you listened to our last episode). Join us as we discuss the little-seen 1943 classic Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, as well as the following Universal Monster movies, and Ross compares Halloween as a kid in the US and the UK.
I’m trying to reference Arsene Lupin Contra Sherlock Holmes, a lost silent film serial. Characters from different stories — or what we would call franchises or IPs (Intellectual Properties) had met each other before this movie, but these characters had not been previously established in their own movies, and thus would not qualify as the first shared universe as Wolf Man and Frankenstein did.
The chronology of the Univseral Monster movies is from Wikipedia.
Here’s the “Monkey Tennis” scene from I’m Alan Partridge, season 1, episode 1:
The Mexican project that Lon Chaney, Jr. was a part of was Face of The Screaming Werewolf (1964).
Below is a picture of me (left) and my brother, Halloween either 1988 or 1989. I’m in a homemade Ghostbusters uniform, and my brother is sporting a very Bela Lugosi-inspired Dracula outfit.
It is fun finally being back in the States for Halloween, and I still enjoy making my costumes from scratch. And not just mine, either. This is what I did to my son last year:
Why are the Universal Horror Movies important and why should we still talk about them today? Because believe it or not, the Hollywood movie industry is still making billions upon billions using the storytelling models that this specific series of movies developed that were kicked off over 85 years ago. Come inside and listen… if you dare!
Ross’ Notes
So… there’s going to be disagreement on exactly who is in the core cannon of the Universal Monster Movies. And that’s fine.
Doing a little more digging, it looks like the books I remember are the Crestwood monster books (orange series). Our library had maybe five of them. Here’s a short, informative video about them:
Much of my information comes from various special feature documentaries on DVDs that I own and that I borrowed from the library.
Information on dates and chronology (the same thing) for Universal horror movies I lifted from Wikipedia here.
Lon Chaney (Sr.) as The Hunchback in 1923:
Yes, German expressionism. Probably worth an episode. Sometimes misapplied, but everyone agrees that The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) by Robert Weine did it to the best effect. The pictures below are not from a dream sequence, but what the movie actually looks like, all the way through. The film stock was also hand-tinted in green, red, blue, and whatever in order to enhance/subvert the mood. Check out this insanity:
Now compare to the Universal horror movies made in Hollywood a decade later. A little more sense of realism, but still a definite skewing of reality:
M (1931) by Fritz Lang. Using a sound motif as a replacement for a character that is present, but unseen:
Blackmail (1929) by Alfred Hitchcock. Watch this short scene, I think it’s one of the best in the history of cinema:
Vampyre (1932) by Carl Th. Dreyer is a remarkably unsettling film using a lot of very basic techniques in very masterful ways:
Boris Karloff’s real name was William Henry Pratt.
Gods and Monsters (1998), dir. Bill Condon.
The play Presumption; or, The Fate of Frankenstein was performed in 1832, 13 years after the book was published.
The Invisible Man (1933), dir. James Whale. The “eaten away” scene:
The definition of sequel is my own. But that’s what it is, right?
The Hays Code was by no means comprehensive when it came into effect in 1930, but a crackdown, led by “popular opinion” was really ramped up in the mid-1930s.
The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.
Attributed to Socrates (469–399 B.C.), by Plato quote from https://www.bartleby.com/73/195.html
Christmas is around the corner! If you wanted to treat a loved one (or yourself, I’m not going to let on), then I recommend the boxed set below. It contains the Spanish version of Dracula as a bonus feature.
Why are there so many Spider-Man Movies? I’ll tell you why there are so many Spider-Man movies! We do a box office and critical analysis of all of the Spider-Man movies up to the present day. Find out why the stories are recycled so much, why they keep recasting the character, and why he’s suddenly started showing up in the Avengers movies.
In 1967 National Periodical Publications, which was the official company name for DC Comics, was acquired by the Kinney National Company. That same year Kinney began negotiating with Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, the movie studio. In 1969 the deal was finalized and in 1972 the conglomerate was rebranded as Warner Communications Inc.
The Matrix hired two comic artists to produce conceptual art and storyboards for the movie: indie creator Geoff Darrow and mainstream artist Steve Skorce. Skorce would go on to draw for X-Men, and Darrow would create Shoalin Cowboy.
Bryan Singer made a conscious decision to dial back on the more flamboyant elements from comics, particularly the costumes, and also made decisions to underplay character elements as well, cutting characters like Mystique and Sabertooth out of back stories (later retconned). Marvel overtly rejected this approach, deciding to turn everything up to ten when it came to costumes and storylines borrowedfrom the comics.
Colin does raise an interesting question — did Spider-Man (2002) lay groundwork for Batman Begins (2005)? I can’t draw an artistic line between them, but the superhero appetite was certainly expanded by both, and the groundwork laid for the ridiculous Marvel Cinematic Universe (fans) vs. DC Expanded Universe (fans) “debate”.
The Incredible Hulk end credits scene is interesting in that it leads to absolutely nothing. General Ross isn’t seen again until the third Captain America movie, and there’s been no hint that he’s been involved in anything Stark discussed with him in that seen. But it was a hugely important scene in underscoring the shared universe because although Jackson had clout in his end scene, Downey jr. was coming in as the star from the previous movie.
I get my box office figures from boxofficemojo.com. Here are the Spider-Man in film ones. Bear in mind as well that a studio can often spend twice a budget on advertising, but then there are things like merchandising that aren’t taken into consideration when calculating a movie’s grosses.
Although the first five Spider-Man movies have a similar tonal feel, I think there is a concerted effort in the Garfield movies at world building with a view to making a franchise as opposed to a series. A series means just Spider-Man movies, a franchise means a kind of cluster of movies that would include Venom, Sinister Six, etc.
I apologize to everyone who tuned in to hear about the 1970s Spider-Man movies starring Nicholas Hammond. These movies really fit when discussing Spider-Man in film since they were shot for television and re-edited as movies for the international market.
Who is Doctor Who? We continue to answer this question, covering the Third and Fourth Doctors played by Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, as well as Berry Letts.
Ross’ Notes
Jon Pertwee’s son, Sean Pertwee, is indeed Alfred Pennyworth on the TV show Gotham. If you haven’t seen Dog Soldiers (2002), I think it’s worth a watch. It’s a werewolf movie.
Yes, I deliberately said “can of fish”, conflating “can of worms” and “kettle of fish”. There’s probably a word for this.
Doctor Who Magazine was launched in 1979 and is still going strong today. I pick up an issue every once in a while myself.
Terrence Dicks was also along-time serving story editor for the original series, as well as a later writer. He is probably the best person to answer the question “Who is Doctor Who?” In fact, it completely slipped my mind until just now that Dicks co-wrote one of the first in-canon book material for the Doctor in the 1972 book The Making of Doctor Who, which was part in-canon biography, part behind-the-scenes material. For many young British fans this was the first comprehensive look at how a TV show is made and many of those children were set on course for a career in television. I’ve read it, it’s pretty interesting:
So who is Doctor Who, anyway? It’s a fair question, and one that we have to travel 50 years into the past in order to answer fully. This week we pick up with the very first Doctor, mention very briefly “Dr. Who”, and blow through the Second Doctor–essentially all the black and white (and missing)episodes. Join us on a journey through space and time as we ask… who is Doctor Who?
Ross’ Notes
First up, this episode is in NO WAY meant to be a comprehensive guide, only an introduction. That said, I’m fairly well-versed in Doctor Who lore, so I challenge anyone to find ANY MISTAKES AT ALL with anything that I’ve said.
FIRST MISTAKE: Doctor Who first aired on 23 November 1963, not 1965.
Authors C. S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley also died on the same day as John F. Kennedy. In 1963. Not 1965.
Check out some bio info for Verity Lambert. She’s quite an inspiring person.
The biopic starring David Bradley that we’re talking about is called An Adventure in Space and Time, and was aired in 2013. You can buy it here:
Best episodes to hit for the First Doctor (links to the BBC website in a separate window):
Find out more about the Peter Cushing Dr Who here. He’s largely been forgotten, which is kind of a shame, but the movies add almost nothing to the mythos of The Doctor, having been made from rewritten episodes and not any better realised the second time around.
CORRECTION: Did I say that Derrick Sherwin died? He did not! I think I was thinking of the great Berry Letts.
Graeme Harper is the guy who has directed for both the old Doctor Who series and the new series. His first directed episodes were the Caves of the Adrozani in 1984, which was the last Fifth Doctor story, and he rejoined the family in 2006, during the David Tennant/RTD run.
I’ll give a shout out to the Tardis Data Core, which is a fan-run wikia, and is the bookmark I always go to first for Doctor Who info.
What is the problem with Die Hard? It’s just a fun movie right? I mean, Bruce Willis is really good in it, Alan Rickman gives a career-making performance, and there are a couple cool explosions. What’s not to like? What’s the problem with Die Hard? Well…
Think about how phenomenal McTiernan’s early career was. Three solid movies that all launched franchises, after a fashion. Die Hard (1988) has had four sequels to date and that isn’t even the front runner. Predator (1987) has had four and is getting a fifth this year, and Hunt For Red October (1990) was the first of the five Jack Ryan movies, a character which also now has its own series on Amazon Prime. The actors that have played Jack Ryan are Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford (twice), Ben Affleck, Chris Pine, and John Krasinski.
The Thai movie staring Tony Jaa that Colin is describing looks to be The Protector (2005).
First Blood was released in 1982, and Commando was 1985. Defining a genre is pretty hard to do. But many credit First Blood as the first of the 80s wave of action movies. That same year saw Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in the first “buddy cop movie”, 48 Hrs.
Other high points of the 80s Action genre are Terminator in 1984 and Lethal Weapon in 1987.
Gordon Douglas directed The Detective, and he was quite the workhorse. Starting out as a child (teenage, really) actor in Hal Roach comedies, he went on to direct the horror classic Them! (1954), They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970), and a host of Frank Sinatra vehicles, including my favourite: Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964).
The Martin Lawrence movie I was talking about was Blue Streak (1999), which was considered pretty solid at the time, but now shows how tired the genre had become just before The Matrix (1999) reset the bar and invented a new visual language for (American) action movies. Then Bourne happened. And now John Wick.
Yeah, listen to the Predator director’s commentary as well, it’s real good.
Do you have a problem with Die Hard? Tweet #fictionhack.
This week we are remembering Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, The Question, Rorshach, and much, much more. Just like the heroes he created and helped develop, Ditko was a mysterious, complex, and principled individual. Today we try to open a little of that up for you.
My history of Marvel Comics is not strictly accurate, but it is the simplest way of thinking about it. Fortunately, there are a lot of good biographies of early comics history. My favourite, for its objectivity, is Sean Howe’s Marvel: The Untold Story.
Here’s a sample of Alan Moore’s scriptwriting style, which I don’t think anyone would advise emulating. This is the description for ONE PANEL on the first page of Watchmen. You can find it in the Watchmen Absolute edition.
To learn a lot more about page composition and the art behind draftsmanship (which is the word we give to how much a picture actually looks like the thing that it is of), I recommend Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative.
The scene where Reed is knocked out and has a whole off-panel conversation is found in Fantastic Four issue 71, which I talk more about on my blog FF1by1.com! Go ahead and scroll back through some of the other issue to see what I’m trying to describe about Jack Kirby’s work. He illustrated the first 100 issues of FF.
Here are the Charlton characters along with their Watchmen counterparts:
What’s this? Ross is the layman and Colin is the expert? Have we entered a mirrorverse? That would explain why both Colin and Ross are wearing dark goatees (Ross has a darker goatee on top of his beard–it’s weird). This week we talk Star Trek!
Ross’ Show Notes
Star Trek is massive. There have been 7 TV shows (including the Animated Series) totalling incorporating seasons, totalling 740 episodes. Additionally, there have been and a whopping 13 movies.
Here’s a clip from Star Trek: Next Voyage (known now as The Animated Series). All the voice actors are the show’s original actors, except for Walter Koenig (Chekov), apparently due to budgetary reasons.
Star Trek novels have been published continually since 1967 and have had some pretty big names in SF associated with them. James Blish wrote the very first original novel called “Spock Must Die”, as well as episode novelizations. Multi-Hugo Award winner Joe Haldeman followed suit in the Seventies and since then Harlan Ellison, Theodore Sturgeon, Vonda N MacIntyre, and Greg Bear are more award winners who have penned ST novels.
The best Star Trek novelisation that I’ve read is Star Trek: Federation by Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens. It’s a Original Series/Next Generation crossover which shows early Kirk scenes at the academy and also ties in the creator of the warp drive, Zefram Cochrane, and that’s who James Cromwell plays in Star Trek: First Contact, not Scott Bakula in Enterprise, that’s why I got confused. Anyway, 5 stars.
I still like Star Trek: Generations, though. Doesn’t anyone else?
Colin says that the Original Series’ (TOS) pilot, The Cage, is not canon, but that is not my understanding. Captain Pike appeared in The Menagerie episode of TOS, and no information given there conflicted with the pilot, in fact, much of it was confirmed. The reason that Pike did not appear later was not a story reason, but because the actor backed out. Pike appears in the novels and was recast as an integral character in the J. J. Abrams reboot. So there.
Wow. There have been a LOT of fan-made Star Trek episodes and movies! By far my favourite is Star Trek Continues, both in conception and production. It’s a continuation of the Original Series, which works well being super low budget. They’ve even pushed the colours to match TOS, and the make-up and effects work is spot on. They even have a pretty good Shatner. Definitely check it out:
Colin’s favourite episode is “The Inner Light” season 5, episode 25. The short story I couldn’t remember the name of is An Occurrence at Owl Creek by Ambrose Bierce. Read it. It’s good. It’s short.
My favourite episode is season 6, episode 21 called “Frame of Mind”.
Westworld (1976) is quite well thought of today. IMDB gives it 7/10, Metacritic gives it 77, and Rotten Tomatoes gives it 86% fresh. Which isn’t awful.
Marvel Studios is about to release its 20th movie, Ant-Man and The Wasp! As a long-time comic nerd, that blows my mind. Ant-Man is a very unlikely hero who has been around since the beginning and has a hard time keeping his own series. The Wasp has generally been a tag-along character to him. Along with Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s been one of the most obscure characters picked to headline his own movie. So who is Ant-Man and/or The Wasp? Who are they in the comics, and who are they in the movies?
The best info on comic characters (apart from me) is still probably Wikipedia. Here are the entries for Ant-Man and The Wasp.
Peyton Reed isn’t a name you probably knew before Ant-Man, but he directed the first Bring It On (2000), as well as Yes Man (2008), and every episode of The Weird Al Show (1997). For those alone I will forgive him Down With Love (2003).
My personal favourite tale featuring (the original) Ant-Man and The Wasp is Kurt Busiek’s 12 issue limited series Avengers Forever. Carlos Pacheco’s art is top tier and although it reaches deep into pre-90s comic lore, it’s friendly for a newcomer.
I don’t know if I made it clear, but Hope Van Dyne did appear first in Marvel Comics, although not in strict continuity. MC2 (Marvel Comics 2) were a spin-off imprint from the late 1990s, created when Tom DeFalco (one of my personal favourite writers) was removed from marvel as Editor-In-Chief in 1994. Fan outcry (or, let’s say, demand) was such that Marvel gave DeFalco creative control over a small group of titles, MC2, which essentially showed how the key marvel characters would have progressed under his supervision. Spider-Girl, with Ron Frenz, was the forerunner success and became known as the comic they couldn’t kill after fan outcry (it really was an outcry this time) forced Marvel to rescind several cancellations–eventually going on to be Marvel’s longest-running female-titled comic, hitting 100 issues. Other titles were The Fantastic Five, J2, Wild Thing, and A-Next. Hope Van Dyne, as the daughter of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, appeared in issue 7 of A-Next as The Red Queen, leader of the Revengers, squaring off against Cassandra Lang (that name familiar?) a size-changing hero called Stinger.
I’m supposed to put links out and embeds into my notes for SEO purposes. Here’s a trailer, I guess:
I still like Star Trek: Generations, though. Doesn’t anyone else?