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Saturday, May 25, 2013

Saturday Night at the Movies 5/25/13!

This is the kickoff post for a very special Blogfest. On Monday, May 27th, 2013, we will be celebrating the 100th birthday of one of my favorite actors - the late great Peter Cushing!



The Peter Cushing Centennial Blogathon!



Thanks to the fine folks over at Frankensteinia - The Frankenstein Blog - several cool blogs are participating to celebrate the man and the legend.

Here is the link direct to the Blogathon.








Now, it's Saturday, and that means it's time for our usual poster and movie trailer combo highlighting something from my own video vault - and in order to pick the movie, the question must be asked:


Who cares what picture we see?





Well, Peter Cushing definitely would - therefore we'll go with this:













This is the British Quad poster - note the spelling of "colour." Also note whose name is largest and whose image is the only one on the poster - those Daleks were pretty danged popular at the time.


For fun, here's the American movie poster:



I didn't see this cinematic spinoff from the long running British series until the late 80's - but it's a fun retelling of the Doctor's first encounter with his archenemies - not robots, mind you - but armored casings protecting a gelatinous mutant creature inside.

Oh sure, the movie simplifies the Doctor's origin from an alien who calls himself The Doctor travelling around in a stolen space/time machine called the TARDIS to an Earth scientist named Doctor Who who builds a time machine inside a DeLorean...British police box.

But it's all in good fun - and it's wonderful to see Peter Cushing inhabiting the role so well. And like the poster up top tells you - unlike the TV show of the time - the movie is in COLOUR.


The movie did well enough to spawn a sequel - and because you only get to celebrate a centennial once - let's make this a





PETER CUSHING DOUBLE FEATURE!






Here we go:











And let's throw in the American version again:



Not a lot of difference in the posters this time.


Another VHS viewing from several years ago - this sequel film again adapts a TV adventure to the Big Screen - and adds some very welcome production value to the color film - pulling off some wonderful effects and action that the mostly studio-bound 60's TV series simply couldn't achieve.



Both films reside in the video vault in a most acceptable DVD presentation and I could get this double feature rolling in seconds - if you care to come by - even tonight!



Until tomorrow's post - you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

7 comments:

  1. wow, had no idea that there were Dr. Who movies!
    just checked - looks like this one wasn't released here...

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    Replies
    1. They are fun movies - compact for those who aren't Whovians, but would like to experience a little of it. You should track them down!

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  2. Both films were released stateside, with the second getting less of a profile, unfortunate since it's a damned good adaptation.
    The first flick even had a Dell Comics adaptation with art by DC Comics great Dick Giordano!
    You can read them here...
    http://captainvideossecretsanctum.blogspot.com/2011/05/captains-library-dr-who-daleks-part-1.html
    and
    http://captainvideossecretsanctum.blogspot.com/2011/05/captains-library-dr-who-daleks.html
    as well as the British comic "Daleks vs Martians" set in the time between the two Cushing movies...
    http://captainvideossecretsanctum.blogspot.com/2013/05/doctor-who-daleks-vs-martians.html
    Sadly, there was no American comic adaptation of the second Cushing flick.

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    Replies
    1. Wow - VERY cool! Thanks for those links! And thanks for coming by! You have a very cool blog over there!

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  3. I did not know my man Peter played Dr. Who. He was the coolest Van Helsing and I adored all his Hammer films.

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    Replies
    1. He was a big part of my childhood movie watching - and I'm delighted I got to see him on The Big Screen (Star Wars and Top Secret!). His Who flicks are fun!

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