ZOMBZANY AND MAJOR MANIAC'S SCI-FI MARATHON - PART 3

Part Three of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi Marathon begins with Bill E. Bones sitting in Zombzany's chair, reading from Major Maniac's script that comments on the previous film. Zombzany returns to the set, promptly tears up the script and has his zombie manservant Sebastian escort Bones to the dungeon.

Zombzany decides to host the "Sci-Fi Moron-a-thon" in his own unique style and proceeds to read dryly from his science fiction film tome about the next film. Myron, Zombzany's zombie slave and cameraman, begins falling asleep behind the camera, which causes it to go in and out of focus. Evidently, Sebastian forgot to lock the dungeon cell doors, because Bill E. Bones can clearly be heard behind the camera trying to wake Myron up and keep the camera in focus. The segment ends with Zombzany clearly frustrated at his attempt to enlighten his zombies and pleads with them to "go to black".

Enjoy Part Three of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi Marathon!

AMERICAN HORROR STORY – A NEW TWIST ON GOTHIC HORROR

I had not planned on watching American Horror Story,  the new horror program which premiered on the FX cable network this past Wednesday night at 10 pm. My favorite subgenre of horror is supernatural horror. American Horror Story appeared from the teaser trailers to fall within the horror subgenres of ghost stories, creepy houses and psychological horror, all three of which are my least favorite. Ever since Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel went off the air, I’ve been getting my weekly supernatural horror TV fix from Supernatural on WB/CW.  The new supernatural horror show that I’ve been looking forward the most is Grimm, which NBC has pushed the premier date back to October 28. Still, as a curious and dedicated genre fan I decided to give the first episode of American Horror Story a try.

After watching American Horror Story on FX HD On Demand and I can honestly say it is the most disturbing horror psychological drama that I have ever seen on Television. The lines that the show draws between reality, imagination and the supernatural are so fine that it really leaves you guessing as to which is which. I can't say that I found the show entertaining, but it is so skillfully done - both visually and contextually - that I find myself intrigued enough with the series set-up that I think I’ll be drawn to watching future episodes.

The basic story is about a married couple from Boston, Ben and Vivien Harmon (Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton), who along with their teenage daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga), move to Los Angeles to get a “fresh start”. It is revealed that Ben cheated on Vivien after she had a miscarriage and was refusing his attentions both emotionally and physically. Ben, a psychiatrist, saw this old mansion for sale on line for a reduced rate and hoped that he could use one of its many rooms as an office to see patients. Even after finding out that the previous owners of the home committed murder/suicide, the Harmon’s buy and move into the remodeled, but still oddly creepy mansion.

All the Harmon family members have deeply disturbing character flaws. Ben Harmon is frustrated by his wife’s lack of sexual attention and her obvious need to take out her anger and grief out on him. Ben’s practice also puts him into emotional turmoil as well, which adds to his dysfunctional behavior towards his family. Vivian Harmon is not only still suffering from the grief of a lost child, but her distrust of her husband still forces her to distance herself from him. Violet Harmon is also troubled, as she feels aliened by both her parents, to the point that she suffers from self-injurious behavior (SIB).

As if their own problems weren’t enough, the Harmon’s home is invaded by a childlike woman who decrees the death of them all. Her mother, Constance (Jessica Lange) arrives to retrieve her daughter Abby (Jamie Brewer), but dispenses disturbing gossip about the gruesome murders committed in their home. Almost as mysteriously, an older woman named Moira (Frances Conroy) shows up at the mansion and declares herself the mansion’s housekeeper. She goes into great detail as to how she was the one to discover the bodies of the previous owners and that she was the one to clean up the mess. For some inexplicable reason, Moira appears to Ben as a very attractive young women and this causes the sexual tension between he and Vivian to increase even further. The first episode concludes with a bizarre sexual encounter between Vivian and someone who she thinks is her husband and a big reveal at the end.

Even for a cable network show, the language and graphic depiction of sexuality are fairly strong. While FX’s American Horror Story still can’t compete with HBO’s True Blood for its explicit nudity or casual use of the “F” word, it still conveys a true adult tone without resorting (thus far) to True Blood’s gruesome gore and blood. The acting is all finely underplayed in the style of Gothic Horror and as there are no stand outs among the cast, it plays nicely as an ensemble piece. I was somewhat displeased with the use of the character Abby, who obviously suffers from Down’s syndrome, and her treatment by her mother Constance, but I’ll give the show some time to elaborate on their relationship before sicking my metal PC police on them. As there are no strong moral characters in the show, it makes it difficult relate to or empathize with any of them. I’m assuming because this is serialized Television and not a one-off film that at least one of the characters will grow from their horrifying experiences as the program progresses. I’ll continue to watch American Horror Story for as long as they continue to exceed my expectations and not overindulge in the disturbing drama, but further explore the supernatural aspects of the show.

ZOMBZANY AND MAJOR MANIAC'S SCI-FI MARATHON - PART 2

In Part Two of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi Marathon Zombzany is awaiting the arrival of Major Maniac’s script to introduce the sci-fi movies. It is being received via FAX, which obviously Zombzany knows nothing about, as he is unable to even pronounce the word. The script is handed to him by his faithful zombie servant Sebastian and as Zombzany reads it he realizes that the script is still in Major Maniac’s somewhat eccentric dialect. Zombzany stomps out in a huff and leaves Bill E. Bones to introduce the first film of the sci-fi marathon.

Enjoy Part Two of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi Marathon!

STARSHIP FARRAGUT: THE ANIMATED EPISODES

I was a fan of Star Trek: The Animated Series, which was produced by Filmation in association with Paramount Television and ran for two seasons from 1973 to 1974 on NBC, airing a total of twenty-two half-hour episodes.

I'm also a fan of the many Star Trek fan films made over the last decade or so. I just discovered a new Star Trek fan film that is animated and it looks like a real labor of love.

NEO f/x (in association with Farragut Films) has released two  episodes of Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes. They are based on the original Star Trek animated series and they have the same look and feel of the original animated series from the 70's.

Here is a synopsis of the first episode:

The Needs of the Many - Stardate 6047.1: The Farragut takes on a special visitor as they return to Cestus III, the site where Kirk and the Gorn fought on stardate 3045.6. As fate would have it, Carter and crew encounter the same rogue Gorn, looking for revenge against the Federation. Time will NOT be on Farragut's side!

The voices are:

John Broughton - Carter
Michael Bednar - Tacket
Holly Bednar - Smithfield
Paul R. Sieber - Prescott
Tonya Bacon - Moretti
Bob McDonough - Galway
Jason LeBlanc - Glenn
Amy McDonough - Holley
Hetoreyn - Taylor
Ralph M. Miller - Computer / Gorn
Chris Doohan - Thelin / Scotty
Chase Masterson - Renata/'Commodore' Johnson/Assistant #2
Vic Mignogna - Shealar/Assistance #1
Tim Russ - Dr. Tumar

For more information on Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes go to http://www.farragut-animated.com/index.html

Here is the first act of "Power Source" which was released July 20th, 2009. Enjoy!

ZOMBZANY AND MAJOR MANIAC’S SCI-FI MARATHON - PART 1

This video of Zombzany and Major Mac Maniac is from sometime in the late 1980's. Zombzany and Major Mac Maniac's relationship goes back to the 1970's when both of them were late-night movie hosts at different UHF TV stations. Zombzany, of course, ran old 1930's and 1940's horror movies on KARP-TV and Major Mac Maniac ran "classic" sci-fi movies from the 1950's and 1960's on WARP-TV. Despite the differences in their shows and the distance of their respective broadcasting partners, somehow Zombzany and Maniac developed a rivalry with one another. At the end of the 1970's, both of them found themselves out of work, as most UHF TV stations at that time cut back on their local programming in favor of syndicated shows.

Apparently, sometime in the 1980's, both of these former TV movie hosts began supplementing their meager broadcast TV income by hosting prerecorded sci-fi and horror movie marathons for various fan groups. In this video, Zombzany is sitting in an obviously mock tomb set, reading his favorite classic horror film book; while Bill E. Bones sits beside him reading a zombie comic book. The phone rings and it is Major Maniac calling from his "space station" to ask Zombzany for a favor. When Zombzany finds out that this favor is to host a sixteen hour sci-fi movie marathon in the Major's stead, he initially refuses. However, Major Manic calls in a "marker" and Zombzany reluctantly agrees to the hosting appearance, after haggling with Maniac over his cut of the payment for the gig.

Enjoy Part One of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi Marathon!