Wednesday, June 3, 2015

3 June 2015

Birthdays
Lalaine b. 1987 (Buffy)
Brenden Jefferson b. 1986 (Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century)
Imogen Poots b. 1989 (Fright Night, 28 Weeks Later, V for Vendetta)
Lindsay Hollister b. 1977 (Blubberella)
Jason Jones b. 1973 (Hot Tub Time Machine 2, Phil the Alien, Mutant X, Terminal Invasion)
Patrick Rothfuss b. 1973 (author, The Kingkiller Chronicles)
James Purefoy b. 1964 (John Carter, Camelot, Solomon Kane, Frankenstein [2007, TV], Resident Evil, The Cloning of Joanna May)
Greg Thirloway b. 1961 (NightMan, Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, Big and Hairy, First Wave, The X Files, Sliders)
Suzie Plakson b. 1958 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beauty and the Beast, My Stepmother is an Alien)
Scott Valentine b. 1958 (Harpies, Black Scorpion, Fallout, Mars, Carnosaur 3: Primal Species, Lois & Clark, The Unborn II, To Sleep with a Vampire, Deadly Nightmares, My Demon Lover, Knight Rider)
Clive Mantle b. 1957 (Game of Thrones, Alien³)
Erland van Lidth b. 1953 died 23 September 1987 (The Running Man)
Melissa Mathison b, 1950 (writer, The Indian in the Cupboard, Twilight Zone: The Movie, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial)
Robert Z’Dar b. 1950 died 30 March 2015 (La Femme Vampyr, Vampire Blvd., Night Realm, Frogtown II, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time, The Flash [1991], A Gnome Named Norm, Cherry 2000)
John Rothman b. 1949 (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Enchanted, Dark Matter, Daredevil, From the Earth to the Moon, The Devil’s Advocate, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Ghostbusters)
John Dykstra b. 1947 (special effects, Godzilla, X-Men: First Class, Hancock, Spider-Man I and II, Batman & Robin, Batman Forever, My Stepmother is an Alien, Invaders from Mars, Alice in Wonderland [1985 TV], Lifeforce, Firefox, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars: Episode IV, Silent Running)
Penelope Wilton b. 1946 (Doctor Who, Shaun of the Dead, Alice Through the Looking Glass [1998, TV], The Borrowers)
Bill Paterson b 1945 (Outlander, Dirk Gently, Doctor Who, Sea of Souls, Ghostbusters of East Finchley, The Witches, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen)
Frank McRae b. 1942 (One Hell of a Guy, Asteroid [TV], Last Action Hero, Twilight Zone, Wonder Woman)
Edward Winter b. 1937 died 8 March 2001 (Weird Science, Superboy, Mistfits of Science, The Greatest American Hero, Project U.F.O.)
Marion Zimmer Bradley b. 1930 died 25 September 1999 (author, The Mists of Avalon, Darkover)
Tony Curtis b. 1925 died 29 September 2010 (Stargames, Lois & Clark, The Mummy Lives, Lobster Man From Mars, BrainWaves, The Manitou)
Colleen Dewhurst b. 1924 died 22 August 1991 (Twilight Zone [1988], The Boy Who Could Fly, Alice in Wonderland [1983], The Dead Zone)
Patrick Cargill b. 1918 died 23 May 1996 (The Prisoner)
Ellen Corby b. 1911 died 14 April 1999 (Batman, The Gnome-Mobile, Mr. Terrific, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, The Addams Family, My Living Doll, Visit to a Small Planet, Mighty Joe Young)
Maurice Evans b. 1901 died 12 March 1989 (The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything, The Canterville Ghost, The Six Million Dollar Man, Bewitched, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, The Body Stealers, Rosemary’s Baby, Planet of the Apes, Batman)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Suzie Plakson (iconic, fabulous, Klingon and Vulcan) and Erland van Lidth (iconic, deceased, lovely singing voice). This year, three of the best candidates were not on camera, the writers Marion Zimmer Bradley and Patrick Rothfuss and special effects wizard John Dykstra, but in the end, I went with Maurice Evans, iconic both as Samantha's dad and as Dr. Zaius.

When you think about who Samantha Stevens' parents were, don't you think she should have had a much more posh accent? Just sayin'.

2. The Canadians amongst us. Greg Thirloway's credit list looks Canadian, but he isn't. The actual Canadians are Jason Jones from The Daily Show and Colleen Dewhurst.

3. Wait... he's dead? While he died very young, I have processed the fact that Erland van Lidth, best know for roles in Stir Crazy and The Running Man, is dead. On the other hand, the death of Edward Winter, best known as Colonel Flagg from M*A*S*H, has not completely sunk in yet for me.

4. Those two did that much genre? Ellen Corby was Grandma Walton. She was also in a lot of genre movies and TV. Colleen Dewhurst was an important stage actress, but she found time for a lot of genre work as well.

5. I missed a Never to be Forgotten. Robert Z'dar died this March. I saw his obit and checked the top of his credit list on imdb.com and decided incorrectly that he hadn't been in anything anyone had seen. That might be true of his late career, but  he was in some well known genre production in the 1980s and deserves a mention. Commenter Zombie Rotten McDonald also points out one of Z'Dar's direct to video efforts Future War got the MST3K treatment.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

Movie released
X-Men: First Class released, 2011

Predictor: George Sutherland in his 1901 book Twentieth Century Inventions

Prediction:In the apparatus which will probably be in use during the twentieth century, each subscriber will have a dial carrying on its face the names and numbers of all those with whom he is in the habit of holding communication. This will be his "smaller dial," and beside it will be another, intended for only occasional use, through which, by exercising a little more patience, he may connect himself with any other subscriber whatever.

When the correct number is reached the subscriber is in connection with the person with whom he desires to converse. If, however, the latter should be already engaged, a return impulse causes the bell of the first subscriber to ring.

Reality: Recall that when Sutherland writes this, all calls go through an operator. He is proposing direct dial - the details of which are credited to John von Neumann - and speed dial, which would become common in the 1970s and 1980s.

That's some mighty good thinking, Mr. Sutherland.

Never to be Forgotten: Jim Bailey 1938-2015

Jim Bailey, best known as a female impersonator with a lovely singing voice who did tributes to Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand and others, died at the age of 77 this week, (imdb.com gave his birthday as 1948, but Wikipedia gave the date most news outlets are using.) I didn't think he would have any genre credits, but a quick check on imdb.com turned up two films, Vultures and The Day It Came to Earth.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Jim Bailey, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The results of the NBA Conference predictions and the predictions for the finals.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

4 comments:

  1. Robert Z'dar was the guy with the enlarged jawbone, wasn't he? He was in at least one MST3K movie, Soultaker- which was written by the woman who also starred, and had Joe Estevez in it. He might have been in the one with Zap Rowsdower as well, I forget...

    IMDB shows he was working pretty much up to the end. Hope all those checks cleared, Robert!

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    1. Now tthat I look a bit closer, I see Mr. Z'Dar was in the Misted Future War which was notable for the use of forced perspective and shadows to make it look like there were dinosaurs chasing them...

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  2. Edward Winter sure had a leading man face. Don't know why they always seemed to cast him as a dick.

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    Replies
    1. There are so many pretty people in Hollywood and it's hard to say why some get cast the way they do. I think Winter had a knack for making his voice sound creepy.

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