Planet 8 Podcast

 This episode is a fuel-injected suicide machine! We're traveling not too far into the future, to the world of Mad Max! We've been big fans of both Mad Max and The Road Warrior, and we'll discuss all four of the films, and of course get into some of the back story about how the film series originated.Coming out of Australia in 1979 as the brainchild of George Miller and Byron Kennedy, Mad Max was a mind-blowing blast of action, featuring wall to wall high speed stunts the likes of which audiences had never seen before. It was the first film of a very young Mel Gibson, starring as Max Rockatansky, a good cop who goes on a mission of vengeance on the road after his family is killed by a motorcycle gang. Made on a shoestring budget, the film was a worldwide hit, which paved the way for a sequel.The second film, known worldwide as Mad Max 2, but as The Road Warrior (1981) in the states, moved the story much more clearly into a dystopian future. Max wanders the wastelands aimlessly, searching for gas to keep his V8 interceptor running. He winds up assisting a group of people running a refinery against a gang of raiders in exchange for gas. Max is removed from his humanity - he's at best an anti-hero - but he's miles better than the bestial thugs that harass the inhabitants of the refinery. Once again, Miller and Kennedy deliver amazing chase sequences and stunts -all done for real, no CG!By 1985, the third film, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome was released, and the influence of the big Hollywood studios is obvious. Tina Turner was brought in as an antagonist and performed a couple of songs for the soundtrack. The violence was also turned down for a PG-13 rating - never a good sign. Max also gets involved with a pack of wild children. It seemed calculated to appeal to a wider audience but it felt like they had lost some of the Max charm.The franchise lay dormant for decades. Miller had considered bringing Max to TV but plans fell through. Finally, a new film was produced in 2015, Mad Max Fury Road. Tom Hardy took over the role of Max, and Charlize Theron co-starred as Furiosa. Fury Road took many elements from the previous films, but amped them up way over the top. Previous chases were almost recycled, but bigger and crazier. The marauders from Road Warrior are emulated but to almost ridiculous extent. The film was incredibly successful and it seems a sequel or prequel is likely.If you haven't watched any of the older Mad Max films in a while, go back and check them out - especially the first two! The action sequences are still amazing.Chief Engineer Bob with Mr. Takarada at MonsterpaloozaFor our Sensor Sweep sequence, we have a memorial to the great actor Akira Takarada (1934 - 2022), who appeared in the original 1954 Godzilla, as well as many other Godzilla films including Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Godzilla vs. the Thing, and all the way up to Godzilla: Final Wars. Our Chief Engineer Bob shares a personal story of meeting Mr. Takarada with us. We send our condolences to his loved ones.That wraps up this episode. Thoughts on Mad Max? Please share! You can reach us here or at our other locations:Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8CastFacebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8PodcastYouTube: https://youtube.com/Planet8podcastThanks for listening!   

We're back with more talk about all the shows we've been watching. There are so many great shows out now- and so many platforms. It's hard to keep up with it all. But between the three of us, we manage to see quite a few genre shows. We'll share our thoughts on shows such as The Walking Dead, Raised by Wolves, Peacemaker, Star Trek Prodigy, Cowboy Bebop, Hellier, Servant, Tetsujin 28,  Superman and Lois,  and the conversation may wander into a few odd places as we go! We also talk about what shows we are most looking forward to, which of course includes the upcoming Star Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi series, Marvel's Moonknight show, the new Godzilla show on Apple TV,  and numerous films too. Our Sensor Sweep focuses on the famous Rondo Awards. Sadly, Planet 8 did not get nominated in the podcast category this year. But friends of the show Lord Blood-Rah and Mr. Lobo both got nominated for best horror host, so please consider supporting them. Chief Engineer Bob shares a few other ideas for picks. Remember to go vote before April17th. You can see all the categories here: https://rondoaward.com/rondoaward.com/blog/That's another episode in the can! Let us know what you've been watching! Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8CastFacebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8PodcastThanks for listening!

 This episode, your Planet 8 crew is rejoined by our good friend Lord Blood-Rah to take a long, last look at The Book of Boba Fett. The second live action Star Wars series was rather uneven, but did provide some cool moments. We'll discuss how we felt about Boba Fett prior to the series, and then dive into the details of the show. While we varied in our interest in Boba prior to the start of The Book of Boba Fett, we all agreed that he's always been a cool looking character. Of course, he was originally designed as a new type of super stormtrooper, but budgetary concerns resulted in the solo bounty hunter we got in the original trilogy.In the new show, we get a reborn Boba Fett, who was both intriguing and a little confusing. The flashbacks, with Boba living with the Tusken Raiders, was one of our favorite parts. But his motivations were still somewhat fuzzy. A plethora of guest stars graced The Book of Boba Fett. Some we had seen before, others were new (at least to the screen). We talk about all of them, and how the show suddenly turned into the third season of The Mandalorian with episode 5. All this and talk on The Clone Wars, Rebels, Rise of Skywalker,  Jedi philosophy, and more! We hope you'll listen in and share your thoughts too!We also pay our respects to special effects legend Douglas Trumbull, who passed away on February 7th. A true innovator, Trumbull created new methods and new technology for special effects, with credits including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek the Motion Picture, Silent Running, Blade Runner, and many more. His influence on visual effects cannot be over-stated. He may be gone but his contributions, his work, will go on forever. For our Sensor Sweep, Recon Officer Karen shares a brand-new book, appropriate for this episode, The Art of The Mandalorian Season Two by Phil Szostak. This is a big, beautiful book chock full of preproduction illustrations and designs for the second season of Mandalorian. Not only do you get to see all the iterations of character and ship designs, but the texts give back story about how the creators developed their ideas. If you're a Mando fan, you'll love this big tome.Be sure to check out LordBloodRah.com to keep up with everything his Lordship is doing! You can find links to his Nerve-Wrackin' Theater for his TV schedule, as well as his Nerve Wrackin' Auditorium for his podcast featuring old time radio horror and science fiction. His site will also point you to his Patreon and his live appearances too! It's your one-stop shop for all things Lord Blood-Rah!As always, we appreciate your support! Let us know what you thought of The Book of Boba Fett, and what you thought of this episode. You know where to reach us:Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8CastFacebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8PodcastThanks for listening!

 This episode we are going back to one of our favorite places, a little world known as the Planet of the Apes! But this time, we're going to explore...Beneath the Planet of the Apes!Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) was the second film in the original Apes franchise, and it went down quite a different path than the first. The Planet Ape -I mean, 8 - crew, along with our special guest, Lord Blood-Rah, will discuss all the myriad details behind how the film came to be made, as well as walk through the storyline. There were a number of ideas thrown around in the initial stages of the film, which involved bringing back Rod Serling and author Pierre Boule, but none of these really stuck. It was only when British poet and screenwriter Paul Dehn was brought in that the plot solidified.Making a sequel back then was unusual and seen as a shoddy money-grab, and Apes star Charlton Heston really didn't want to do it. He was ultimately convinced to do a cameo appearance, so a new lead had to be found, and James Franciscus, who had primarily appeared on television, filled the bill. Much of the cast of the first film returned, including Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius, Kim Hunter as Zira, and Linda Harrison as Nova. Roddy McDowall was not available so actor David Watson stepped in. James Gregory gives a notable performance as gorilla General Ursus, a role originally offered to the legendary Orson Welles!The story builds to a confrontation between the ape military and the human mutants who live underground in the Forbidden Zone. The mutants are disturbing not only visually but for their bizarre worship of their doomsday bomb. With this film, we get a whole second culture to explore on the planet, one that in many ways is more threatening than the apes. The mutants are horrifically scarred but possess powerful mental abilities of telepathy, mind control and the ability to cast illusions. The moment when the mutants are shown praying to their god provides a massive shock moment.The film ends with (SPOILER) Heston's Taylor pushing the final button to set off the Alpha-Omega bomb, thus igniting the atmosphere and destroying the Earth. Famously Heston and producer Dick Zanuck thought that this would prevent any more sequels from being made -a fair conclusion - but this was not the case. But that's a tale for another episode!For our Sensor Sweep, our good friend Lord Blood-Rah updates us on his latest and greatest goings ons: check out his podcast, Lord Blood-Rah's Nerve Wrackin' Auditorium, which can be found on most podcast aps or Anchor.fm/Lord Blood-Rah to hear old time radio horror. His weekly series, Lord Blood-Rah's Nerve Wrackin' Theater is still going with new episodes every week to be found on LordBloodRah.com. His Patreon series (Patreon.com/lordbloodrah) hosts classic TV sci fi every Friday. The big news though is that Creatures Con is coming back on August 7th in Concord, California! The show will feature horror expert David J. Skal among other guests. Check out CreaturesCon.com for more info. That's all for now, listeners. Until next time, remember, ape shall never kill ape!  But the only good human, is a dead human!Thanks for listening!Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8CastFacebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8Podcast

 One of the staples of many science fiction movies and TV shows is the spaceship. Not merely a vehicle, the spaceship seems to take on a personality of its own through a combination of unique design and the way it is perceived by the characters around it. It can be home for some, or a fighting machine, but a character's spaceship often defines them. Your intrepid crew had so many ships to choose from, over the many decades of sci fi films and TV shows, we each made our own top ten lists, and then through arcane methods, pulled together a combined list from our many picks to create quite a varied group of ships.  Who made the list? What ship is our number one pick? You're going to have to listen to find out!!But - we will say that our oldest ship is from the 1950s, a number of ships are from non-American productions, and only one pick on our list was on all three of our individual lists! So give it a listen and let us know your thoughts. We will also go over our individual lists too. Our Sensor Sweep focuses on a Bay Area legend, John Stanley, who took up hosting Creature Features from Bob Wilkins in 1979 and continued until 1984. During his tenure on the show, Stanley interviewed tons of celebrities, and he shares those interviews in his new book, The Career that Dripped with Horror. Stanley reminisces about his times hosting Creature Features and later appearances at conventions and other shows, and has transcripts of his interviews with folks like Carrie Fisher, Mark Hammill, Christopher Reeve, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Adam West, and tons more. Whether you're a fan of Creature Features, or never heard of it, the interviews alone are worth picking this one up!All right cadets, that's it for this go round. Make sure you keep your engines energized and your defensive shields charged. Thanks for listening!Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8CastFacebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8Podcast

 It seemed to take forever to get here, but Spider-Man: No Way Home arrived right before Christmas, and it was one of the best presents any of us got this year! The Planet 8 crew loved this latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in this episode, we talk all about the movie and all the things we enjoyed. This is a spoiler-filled review, so if you haven't seen the movie yet, what are you waiting for? Go see it, and hurry on back to the podcast!From the many interesting villains of the film, with Willem Dafoe's Goblin and Alfred Molina's Dr. Octopus foremost, to the death of Aunt May, to the appearances of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as other versions of Peter/Spidey, this movie was just packed with amazing moments and surprises. We'll do some deep dives and discuss all of this and more.Of course, Dr. Strange is also in the film and we have to talk about his role in things and what his status is in the MCU -as well as Wong, the new Sorcerer Supreme! There're also all the implications of the multiverse rifts -where will this go in the future?Aunt May utters the famous line, "With great power must also come great responsibility," giving Peter his guiding light, right before she passes away. Losing her gives Peter the sense of loss the other two Spider-Men have that drove them and her last words give him that moral compass he needs so much.MJ and Ned provide Peter with support that no other Spider-Man has had. Moving forward, how will he cope without their help? And was it fair of him to not tell them who he was? At the end of the film, Peter/Spider-Man is reset to a place much more like the classic Spider-Man in the comics: poor, struggling, very much a street-level hero, not the galaxy-spanning hero we'd seen in Endgame. No more help from Tony Stark, from now on, he has to stand on his own two feet. No Way Home feels very much like an origin story. We're excited to see where Spidey goes next!This episode's Sensor Sweep, we want to chat a bit about our YouTube channel. Listeners we invite you to check out our podcasts on YouTube. Bob does a nice job of adding graphics to the audio. It's another way of catching the show. We also have a few special video episodes that are not part of the regular podcast, where we've discussed things like AIP films or bad Facebook purchases! If we hit 1,000 subscribers, we can do live video, which we would really like to do. Currently we are over 300 subscribers. So please consider subscribing to the YouTube channel, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/c/Planet8PodcastThat's a wrap! Please let us know your thoughts on Spider-Man No Way Home, our episode, or anything else you want to talk about!Thanks for listening True Believers!Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8CastFacebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8Podcast

 Happy holidays listeners! When we were planning this episode of Planet 8, we thought, "What says happy holidays better than Vincent Price?" This episode we celebrate the career and life of a true Renaissance Man, Vincent Price, with our special guest, Lord Blood-Rah.Price is a legend as a horror film actor, and we will discuss some of his many films, including The Tingler, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, The Fly, House of Wax, and more. Price played a variety of roles, sometimes sympathetic, sometimes malevolent. But regardless of the role, he had a charm that won audiences over.For many monster kids, our first encounter with Price was on television, perhaps through his role as Egghead on Batman, or even in his many appearances on shows like The Brady Bunch, Love Boat and The Muppet Show. He also displayed his wit and wisdom on game shows like The Hollywood Squares, and frequented talk shows, where his culinary skills might be on display! Price even authored cookbooks (with his second wife, Mary), aimed at the average American family. Cooking Price-wise and A Treasury of Great Recipes were very popular cookbooks in their time, and Treasury was republished in 2015 for a special 50th anniversary edition. He loved cooking and making recipes more accessible for people.He was also an art collector. He had a Masters degree in fine arts and had a lifelong appreciation of art, and a desire to preserve art and bring art to the public - again, making art more accessible to the average person. Today much of his personal collection resides in the Vincent Price Art museum in Los Angeles College in Monterrey Park, California.Price also had quite a career as a voice actor. His wonderful voice allowed him to play the lead role as The Saint on radio in the late 40s. More modern listeners would recognize Price as the narrator from Michael Jackson's Thriller. Price comes across as a fascinating, kind, and charming gentleman that we would love to sit down with, perhaps over a dinner from a recipe in one of his cookbooks, and just have a long conversation. For this episode's Sensor Sweep, Lord Blood-Rah shares with us all his latest happenings. First up, he has a podcast, Lord Blood-Rah's Nerve Wrackin' Auditorium, in which he hosts old time radio horror and science fiction shows, like Inner Sanctum, Lights Out and more. You can find it on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple, and more. The website is Anchor.FM/lordbloodrah. In the Bay Area, every third Saturday night of the month, he's hosting Chiller Theater at the Orinda Theater, showing classic horror and Sci fi. His regular TV series, Lord Blood-Rah's Nerve Wrackin' Theater is going into season 12! Go to the website, Lordbloodrah.com to check out new episodes and everything else going on! He also has a Patreon, where you can support what he is doing, Patreon.com/Lordbloodrah. There you can get his exclusive weekly show, Lord Blood-Rah's Cathode Zone, where he presents classic TV shows. Big news: he may have a comic book available soon!We want to wish you all happy holidays - and best wishes for 2022!Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8CastFacebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8Podcast

 This episode, the Planet 8 crew talks about some of our favorite creature designs. Over the history of cinema, there have been many amazing fantasy, horror and science fiction creatures designed and put on film, and we will each cover one of our favorites. Each of these has significance as paving the way for future films, developing new techniques and pioneering new styles. We begin with the original Planet of the Apes, and the daunting task of developing realistic makeup for the talking chimps, gorillas and orangutans. If the makeup wasn't convincing, if it didn't allow the actors to act and emote, there was no way the film could be made. But talented artist John Chambers was able to develop amazing prosthetics that were flexible enough and convincing enough to meet the challenge. Chambers had a fascinating background that enabled him to make advancements in facial prosthetics. His work certainly was a huge influence on future monster makers.Next we cross the ocean and look at a big star, King Ghidorah! Created by Akira Watanabe for the 1964 movie Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster, it was based on many other multi-headed dragons. The design was always three heads and two tails, but early production photos show different coloring. The suit was operated by an actor in the suit and puppeteers working the heads, wings and tails. This made for a kind of frenetic movement style, which was pretty cool when you saw it as a kid! Ghidorah was active til 1972, then brought back in a new suit in the 90s, but he lost his crazy frenetic motion. In the new Legendary series, there are three motion capture actors playing each head. The actors have to coordinate their movements, but this method allows each head to have its own personality.Our last headliner is the one and only Eighth Wonder of the World, King Kong! Kong is a fascinating case, having been portrayed now by stop-motion, men in suits, and now CGI. We look at the original film, the Toho Kong, the 1976 Kong including both Rick Baker's Kong and the ludicrous robot Kong, moving into Peter Jackson's Kong, and the latest Legendary films Kong. And who could forget the King Kong at the Universal Studios tour? Yes, we discuss him too!There are many other classic monster or creature designs, and so we have some honorable mentions we'll reveal towards the end of the episode. Can you guess what they might be?For our Sensor Sweep, to get into the holiday spirit, Commander Larry shares a boffo new item, the Hallmark 2021 To The Batcave! Batman classic TV series ornament. Really, it's a bit ridiculous to call this an ornament. It's more of a display piece. On the top of the ornament, we see Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson in Wayne Manor, on the bat poles. Press the button and the batphone lights and beeps, the door closes up top, and a door opens in the batcave below, showing Batman and Robin descending on the batpoles. This spectacular item runs about $60 but may be hard to find. Good luck!We hope you enjoyed this episode. What are some of your favorite creature designs? Let us know!Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8CastFacebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8PodcastWe dig monsters!

  Welcome all, and to our fellow Americans, Happy Thanksgiving! It's become a tradition here at Planet 8 for us to celebrate and be thankful for some genre-related franchise, and in the past, we've been thankful for Star Trek, Star Wars, and James Bond. This year, we are expressing our love and gratitude for the magnificent Marvel Cinematic Universe -the MCU! Now with 26 films and climbing, not to mention the MCU TV series, we've been blessed with a bountiful collection of films that created a rich, complex, and deeply rewarding experience for the viewers. We'll have a conversation about our early experience with the MCU, when we first started hearing about Marvel making an Iron Man film, what we thought of it and how Marvel blew us away with that and the succeeding films. Casting has been a big key to making the films successful, and we'll talk about our favorite castings and the ones we thought might have been crazy, but actually worked out really well. Of course, no discussion of the MCU would be complete without going around and talking about which Marvel movies are our favorites! With so many to choose from now, it's getting harder to pick, but we do come up with a few. Amazingly, there are few MCU films that we don't like. There may be a few that we like less...but somehow they have kept a high level of quality through the series.The crew also talks a bit about the latest MCU film, The Eternals, so if you haven't seen that film yet, be warned! And we can't neglect all the activity on Disney Plus - four series so far, and as this episode goes live, the Hawkeye series will be hitting the airwaves in a couple of days! Where else will the Marvel Cinematic Universe go? We can't wait to see.For the Sensor Sweep, Bob shares information about a book by his friend Norman England, Behind the Kaiju Curtain: A Journey onto Japan's Biggest Film Sets. This book is a personal record of Norman's experiences while he wrote for Fangoria and was able to visit the sets of a number of kaiju films in a professional capacity. He met many of the actors and crew on the films and the book gives you an intimate look at what went on in the Japanese film industry in the 90s. If you like kaiju films, this is a must-read! Ask for it at your local bookseller, or get it at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. That's all for us this time. Listeners, we are also thankful for you! We appreciate you listening to us, commenting, subscribing, contacting us on Twitter and Facebook. It's great to feel a sense of community forming around Planet 8. We hope that you and yours are safe and well.Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8CastFacebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8PodcastAvengers Assemble!!

 Come with us on this episode as we ponder...what would it be like to be the last human being on Earth? How would a person cope with the loneliness, the despair? We look at a trio of films all based on a story built around this concept, Richard Matheson's classic 1954 novel, I Am Legend. Matheson's story took the classic vampire legend and gave it a modern, pseudo-scientific twist, with the vampires created by a bacterial plague, leaving one man,  immune, struggling to survive.After Bob provides some background on the novel, we dive into the first film adaptation, 1964's Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price. Matheson wrote the first draft of the screenplay but eventually withdrew his name from it after a number of other writers came in later and altered it. However, it is still the most faithful version to the book. It's certainly the one that retains the horror aspects the most. The black and white film gives it a ton of atmosphere, and Price provides a strong performance as the deeply depressed Robert Morgan (not Neville, as he was named in the book and the other two films). Having Morgan's former neighbors, now turned into pseudo vampires/zombies stand outside his house at night groaning, "Morgan!" is pretty chilling. By 1971, the concept turns into an action/sci fi vehicle for Charlton Heston, called The Omega Man. This version differs markedly from the original Matheson story. Heston plays Colonel Robert Neville, MD, a military man and doctor, who was working on a vaccine to a biowarfare agent unleashed in a war between China and the USSR. Unfortunately, Neville is the only one to receive the experimental vaccine before most of the world succumbs to the disease. The survivors are mutated into strange albinos who can't stand daylight, and develop a science-hating cult (The Family) led by a former newscaster, played by Anthony Zerbe. During the day, Neville goes around killing The Family where he can find them, and taking whatever food, clothes, cars, etc., he wants. This film features a love interest -Rosalind Cash as Lisa - and is notable for the obvious Christ analogy at the end of the film. It's a big ball of cheese, but entertaining.The property was moved around Hollywood for a while, with Ridley Scott and Arnold Schwarzenegger attached for a length of time. But the third version was released in 2007, titled I Am Legend, starring Will Smith. This film took many of the ideas of the book, but followed Omega Man's action packed  style. Once again, Smith's character is both a military man and a doctor, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville, an Army virologist. He is the only survivor of a plague that has wiped out mankind, with the few survivors turned into wild cannibalistic mutants who can only come out at night. Neville, with his dog Sam as his only companion, hunts the mutants during the day, sometimes capturing them to experiment on them, still searching for a cure. The Planet 8 crew all agrees that we had a hard time sticking with this film once the CGI creatures appeared - it's a shame such bad CGI basically ruined this film.Of course we will compare and contrast the movies, discuss what elements they have in common, how they differ, and what we thought worked best. It's fascinating to have three films, from different decades, all working from the same source material. Each is a product of its time. And what would a new adaptation look like?For our Sensor Sweep, fittingly, Karen shares her soundtrack CD for the Omega Man -it's Omega Man 2.0 Unlimited from Film Score Monthly. This version has a whopping 18 tracks, for 64 minutes of amazing music from Ron Grainer. It's a fantastic, memorable 70s score. Put it on the next time you're cruising around Los Angeles!That's it for us this time. Be sure to share your thoughts with us about the many versions of I Am Legend.Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8CastFacebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8PodcastMoooor - gan!!

  It's almost Halloween, so of course, all October, the Planet 8 crew has been watching scary movies! Of course, we tend to watch scary movies all year long, but it's a little more concentrated this month, and we focus a little more on certain films this time of year. This episode we discuss what type of films get us in the "Halloween spirit" ! If you're looking for ideas for things to watch leading up to Halloween, tune in!For Chief Engineer Bob, it's all about spooky films with a comedic twist. Some of the films he likes to watch to get into a Halloween mood include the Don Knotts classic, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, Munster Go Home,  and of course, Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. Another great scary yet humorous film to watch is John Landis' An American Werewolf in London. Recon Officer Karen always starts with the Universal Monsters, and this year it began with Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, which has the creepiest opening of any Universal monster film. Next up was Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, which never fails to entertain. She'll be moving on to  the Hammer films, in particular the Hammer version of The Mummy. She also watched some John Carpenter movies, The Thing and Prince of Darkness. Commander Larry has been showing his wife Jasmine a lot of films she's never seen before, but more on the lighter side. One of these was The Monster Squad, which is still entertaining and has some great updated designs for the classic monsters. He also had some Hammer films on his list, including the Hammer Phantom of the Opera. Of course we divert and digress and discuss Phantom of the Paradise, Phantasm, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Milpitas Monster (really, we swear), and many others! For the Sensor Sweep, Bob came across an unusual Blu-Ray -Night of the Animated Dead, an animated version of the classic Night of the Living Dead. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a stinker. The animation is just not very good. It's also basically a shot for shot recreation of the film. So this is our first trick, not treat, sensor sweep! All right, friends, that's all this time around. We wish you all a safe and fun Halloween! Let us know what movies you're watching.Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8CastFacebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8PodcastHappy Halloween!

  It's that time of the year again - no, not National Pizza Month! It's October and that means it's time for Halloween! If you're like the Planet 8 crew, you're pretty much celebrating Halloween all the time, but October gives you permission to do it publically. With us on this episode is friend of the show, host of Cinema Insomnia, Mr. Lobo! In this smorgasbord of an episode, we'll talk a little about the roots of the holiday, how it changed over the years, and then we share our own childhood Halloween memories of favorite costumes, trick or treating experiences, and so much more!  We may wander off topic a bit, but we think you'll be entertained! Unfortunately we couldn't find photos of all the childhood costumes we discussed, but we will share a few other pictures. For our Sensor Sweep, we throw it open to Mr. Lobo, and he is a busy man! This month he'll be hosting three pop up drive in shows at the Vintage Cafe, on the 8th,15th, and 22nd in Paradise, Pennsylvania. He's been holding live Twitch streams on Saturday nights at 9 pm EST and does Q and A. He's working on a new Cinema Insomnia episode, featuring Rick Sloane's The Visitants. OSI74 is his streaming channel and you can see episodes of Cinema Insomnia there along with a ton of other cool stuff. There's also a YouTube channel for Cinema Insomnia with 60 episodes available to watch. If you haven't seen Mr. Lobo, be sure to check it out!That's all for this time. We'll be back with more Halloween fun in a couple of weeks!Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8CastFacebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8PodcastHappy Haunting!

  Come with us listeners, back to the mist-shrouded 1980s, when hair was big and the Walkman was king, and sword and sorcery films were abundant. Why were there so many sword and sorcery films in that decade? Perhaps it was the lucky convergence of a number of things: the rise in popularity of Dungeons and Dragons, the prevalence of fantasy art such as the Hildebrandt Brothers, Boris Vallejo, and of course, Frazetta, the Marvel Conan comics, and other factors. While there were a number of terrible movies produced in the genre during this period, there were also some excellent or at least entertaining ones. Your crew will be discussing six of their favorites.Excalibur (1981) is a John Boorman film, and it looks absolutely beautiful. A retelling of the Arthurian legend, it has a dreamlike feeling, in an England that is moving from a magical realm to one ruled by Christianity. Highlights include Nichol Williamson as a very otherworldly Merlin, and a fantastic soundtrack that features classical music including Wagner. It is well worth seeing if you haven't!Highlander (1986) is something that started as a good idea, but suffered in the execution. Immortals scattered across the globe must battle until there is only one left -"There can be only one." When an immortal kills another immortal they gain the energies of that person and all the people they have killed. It had nice production design and an interesting cast that included Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, and Clancy Brown, but the story is lacking in parts. Still, it has its high points.Krull (1983) is an odd mix of science fiction and fantasy, with a Prince on a quest to save a Princess from an invading alien known as The Beast. He gathers a rag tag band of thugs, sorcerers and even a cyclops to help him on his rescue mission. He also acquires a magical weapon called the Glaive, which is essentially a large throwing star that always returns to his hand. Clearly influenced by Star Wars as well as fantasy films, Krull is definitely cheesy, but fun.Dragonslayer (1981) has what is still one of the best-looking dragons in all of cinema history, Vermithrax Pejorative. The film follows a young sorcerer's apprentice who tries to rid a village of a terrible dragon. This was a Disney production and featured work by ILM and Phil Tippett. The dragon was animated with Tippett's Go Motions process, and full-size pieces were also used (and a World War II flamethrower was used for the dragon's breath!). This is a cool and unique film well worth seeing.Conan the Barbarian (1982) is probably the premiere sword and sorcery film of the 80s. Nothing quite says sword and sorcery like Conan. Directed by John Milius and with a story from Oliver Stone, this film has a very hard, almost nihilistic edge. Conan sees his parents and village slaughtered in front of him as a child, is chained to the "wheel of pain" from adolescence into young adulthood, forced to become a gladiator, and freed to find his own way, in which he seeks revenge. It's hard to imagine anyone other than Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the Cimmerian. He was perfect for the role. The film also has terrific production values. It just looks like a fully realized world. The battles are exciting and most of the time it actually is Arnold in those scenes -they couldn't find a stunt man to double for him! If you haven't seen it, or it's been a while, check this out.Conan the Destroyer (1984) was the follow up to the first film and unlike the first film, this one was PG. It's obvious they wanted to reach a younger audience, but Conan loses some grit because of this. The production design also suffers some in this film. Still, there's much to enjoy, as this is a more straight-forward adventure where Conan builds a band of adventurers to obtain a magical item for a queen who offers to bring back his lost love, Valeria. Go into this one with reduced expectations and you'll probably get a kick out of it.We know there are many other sword a

 Welcome listeners to our latest episode, where we review the latest Marvel Studios film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings! In this spoiler-filled episode, we'll discuss the comics that formed the basis for the film, the kung fu films that influenced and shaped it, and how it ties into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. Plus, there will be the usual nonsense that you've grown accustomed to. Created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin back in 1973, Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, was on the leading edge of the martial arts craze. Inspired in large part by the ABC TV show Kung Fu, Englehart and Starlin developed the idea of the noble Shang-Chi, who rebelled against his father, the villainous Fu Manchu, who had trained him to be a living weapon. Premiering in Special Marvel Edition 15, Shang-Chi took over the title and had a long successful run for many years. He would frequently show up in other characters' titles as well, such as Spider-Man and Iron Man. He was always a street-level character, using his martial arts skills to fight bad guys in stories with more of an espionage tone. The film takes the basic idea -an idealistic hero whose father is a criminal overlord - but very little of the comic book background remains. Despite this, it's highly enjoyable. It borrows heavily from Jackie Chan films at the beginning, but then moves on to take more of a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon approach. Much of the movie's strength comes from its characters. Shang-Chi, as portrayed by Simu Liu, is very likeable and has a sort of everyman quality, despite turning out to be a master of kung fu. The actor actually does many of his own stunts and fight scenes. Awkwafina plays Shang-Chi's best friend, Katy, who provides some comic relief as well as a stalwart friend to go on his journey. The ever amazing Michelle Yeoh appears as Shang-Chi's aunt and quite a martial artist herself. And a major surprise to us, Ben Kingsley makes a return appearance as Trevor Slattery, the besotted actor who played the Mandarin in Iron Man 3. He has some of the funniest scenes in the movie, and they don't feel gratuitous or over the top.  The titular ten rings, which in the comics were actual rings that the Mandarin wore on his fingers, are arm bands here. These rings can be used in a variety of ways, which is shown by the different ways that Shang-chi and his father use them. His father tends to use them solely for destructive purposes. Shang-Chi is much more creative in how he uses the rings. Certainly the rings give Shang-Chi a power level far beyond what he has had in the comics. Based off the mid-credits scene, they may have a significant history in the MCU. There were a couple of very interesting cameos in the film too. Wong, from the Dr. Strange films, and the Abomination, from 2008's Hulk, are seen battling in the fight club. There are so many questions! It seems like they are working together to make a little moola. How did that happen?Of course, we also saw Bruce Banner and Capt. Marvel. And we do mean Banner, not Professor Hulk. So what happened to him? How did he turn back into Banner? Will we find out in the She-Hulk series on Disney Plus? The film is a story about family, about revenge, and redemption. Like most Marvel films, it is these elements that make it so relatable. The end sets things up for the possibility that Shang-Chi could be fighting against his sister. We will see. In any case, Shang-Chi appears to be ready to take on a bigger role in the MCU as phase 4 moves forward. For our Sensor Sweep, Karen has a big honkin' book to share: the Master of Kung Fu omnibus volume 1. This hardback collection of Shang-Chi stories includes his first appearance from Special Marvel Edition 15 up through Master of Kung Fu 37, and includes Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu 1-4,  Giant-Size Spider-Man 2, and Iron Man Annual 4. This is a great way to get your Shang-Chi fix! You can check for it at your local comic shop, or check out Amazon

 On this edition of Planet 8, we take a look at the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. Spanning six decades, Hitchcock's career began near the end of silent films all the way into the 70s, and encompassed television as well. He was probably the first film director that the general public recognized, due to his larger than life personality and his consistent use of suspense and fear in his films. Hitchcock would push the envelope with both camera techniques and with how far he would push the mores of the day. We'll discuss a number of his films, including Rope and the illusion of the single camera take. Also Rear Window, and the amazing set that was constructed of Jimmy Stewart's neighborhood, and the sense of claustrophobia that was created. There's also To Catch a Thief, which Bob sees a precursor to the Bond films. This time Hitchcock went on location and we get wide open vistas. Then there's Vertigo, which many believe is Hitchcock's masterpiece. The crew had some disagreement over whether Jimmy Stewart's character suspected that Kim Novak's character was actually his old flame or not. If he did know, it would make his obsessive behavior a little easier to take. But watch it and decide for yourself. North By Northwest is another favorite for many, with Cary Grant as a man in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's got great actors, humor, and Mount Rushmore too! But in 1960, Hitchcock delivered what might be his best-known, and perhaps most shocking film, Psycho. Based on a story by Robert Bloch, this tale of murder and a boy who loves his mother a little too much was a hit with the public when released. We talk about the film and especially the Bernard Herrmann score. Herrmann worked with Hitchcock on many of his films, but this score is especially memorable. And who could forget The Birds? This film has an almost apocalyptic feel, as ordinary birds suddenly begin attacking people. Shot in Bodega Bay, California, the beautiful, peaceful landscapes are juxtaposed with the chaos of the birds' violent and inexplicable attacks. It's an amazingly effective film, which has no music, only bird sounds in the soundtrack. And no happy ending -it's ambiguous as to whether the menace is over. There's also some classic shots in this film, like when a huge flock of birds slowly appear behind Tippi Hedren, or the birds-eye view shot of the town and the gas station on fire. It's great work by the master. There are so many other great films by Hitchcock -Strangers on a Train, Frenzy, The Man Who Knew Too Much - but we only have so much time. Do yourself a favor and check them out! We wish we had time to go over the television show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but that will have to be saved for another episode! For this week's Sensor Sweep, Karen shares something completely non-Hitchcock related! Who says we have to make everything match? We're back to Star Wars! It's a great new book called Secrets of the Force: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized, Oral History of Star Wars by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman. This huge tome covers the entire history of the Star Wars films as told by the people who made the films and others who are affiliated with them. These authors have previously done some terrific books on the oral history of Star Trek that were just a joy to read. If you are a Star Wars fan and want to delve deep into the behind the scenes history, this is the book for you!That's it for us this time around! Please let us know your thoughts on anything we discussed this episode. You can leave comments here, or hit us up and our other haunts:Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8CastFacebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8PodcastGood Evening!