Podcasts about Supertrain

GGACP celebrates Thanksgiving 2024 with an entire episode devoted to TV Turkeys (aka terrible and “preposterous” TV programs) including “You're in the Picture,” “Hello, Larry,” “Misfits of Science” and of course, the infamous “Pink Lady and Jeff.” In this episode, Jackie Gleason apologizes, “Supertrain” goes off the rails, Fred Silverman invents “Jiggle TV” and Raybone provides actual research. PLUS: Meadowlark Lemon! The World of Sid and Marty Krofft! Paul Lynde hosts a game show! (not really)! Gilbert tries to forget “Thicke of the Night”! And Tim Conway stars in the worst sketch show of all time! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on It Was a Thing on TV we hit 500 episodes!   First, almost five years ago, we started this podcast.  Now, we are celebrating our 500th episode by going back to an early favorite of ours and revisiting it, mostly for the caliber of guest stars that we didn't recognize back then.  Enjoy as we go back to one of the biggest flops in television history, as we prepare to do the next 500, leading to show 1000.   Next, The FBI was a stalwart on ABC's line-up from 1965 through 1974.  The network kicked the tires on a new, updated version of their venerable classic in 1981 with this show, which featured contemporary storylines and a more diverse cast of characters.  Audiences weren't buying what ABC was selling, as this new version lasted merely a season.   Finally, we're back with another batch of goofy and bizarre hometown commercials in Volume 5 for Episode 502.   Follow us at all our socials via our Linktree page at linktr.ee/itwasathingontv    Timestamps 0:11 - Mike Cold Open to Episode 500 1:23 - Supertrain Revisited (Episode 500) 1:21:47 - Today's FBI (Episode 501) 2:05:00 - Hometown Commercials, Volume 5 (Episode 502)

Almost five years ago, we started this podcast.  Now, we are celebrating our 500th episode by going back to an early favorite of ours and revisiting it, mostly for the caliber of guest stars that we didn't recognize back then.  Enjoy as we go back to one of the biggest flops in television history, as we prepare to do the next 500, leading to show 1000.

Japan's next-gen bullet train uses “magnetic levitation” to coast 4 inches above the track at 300 mph — Japan's train megaproject reminds us of America's Fusion Energy project.Starting this week, internet companies must display “nutritional facts” for the cost and performance of their internet — The same nutrition labels from your Doritos are about to land on Xfinity.Momofuku, the legendary noodle brand, owns the trademark on “chili crunch” — But asian restaurant entrepreneurs think copyright feels really a copy-wrong.Plus, Starbucks just acknowledged that its stores are too loud — So it's turning down the volume so their baristas can hear you.Subscribe to the best newsletter yet: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YouTubeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on It Was a Thing on TV we continue with our Doctor Who 60th Anniversary celebration!   First, Doctor Who was an instantaneous sensation that, in 1964, the ABC in Australia commissioned a show similar to yet different from The Doctor.  Thought to be lost for decades, The Stranger found its way to the Internet in 2019.  Judge for yourself as we continue our tribute to the Doctor's 60th anniversary.   Then, Vincent Price wanted to bring Doctor Who to the States, with an American version.  When that failed, he decided to make his own version aboard a train.  Time Express was a limited series, starting while Supertrain was still airing.  Both shows got derailed in May 1979.   Follow us at all our socials via our Linktree page at linktr.ee/itwasathingontv    Timestamps 0:10 - The Season Ending Joey Gallo Update 2:43 - The Stranger 45:52 - Time Express

The TV show Supertrain made 1979 a Strange Year. Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A television show goes off the rails in 1979.More Ghost Town: https://www.ghosttownpod.comSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/ghosttownpod (7 Day Free Trial!)Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ghosttownpodSources: https://bit.ly/3SwDj8r Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A television show goes off the rails in 1979. More Ghost Town: https://www.ghosttownpod.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/ghosttownpod (7 Day Free Trial!) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ghosttownpod Sources: https://bit.ly/3SwDj8r Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vincent Price wanted to bring Doctor Who to the States, with an American version.  When that failed, he decided to make his own version aboard a train.  Time Express was a limited series, starting while Supertrain was still airing.  Both shows got derailed in May 1979.

The Problem: None of the hats fit John. (Recorded on Monday, September 11, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the offer code, “SUPERTRAIN”

We're happy to welcome Daniel Budnik (@dannyslacks1) to the podcast to discuss an underrated comic great of the 1960s, Green Acres. Daniel wrote “From Beverly Hills to Hooterville,” an episode guide and analysis of the three shows created by Paul Henning in the 1960s: The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Aces. We talk about the show's origin and how Jay Sommers based on the show on “Granby's Green Acres,” a radio show with a similar premise back in the 1950. There's a lot of talk on the show about Sommers and writing partner Chevillat, who scripted almost all of the show's 170 episodes over six seasons. There's lots of talk about the cast, headed by Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor and the various folks that inhabit Hooterville, including handyman Ed (Tom Lester) shifty salesman Mr. Haney (Pat Buttram) and of course, the breakout star of the show at the time, Arnold Ziffel (Arnold the Pig). We discuss the surreal and absurdist comedy found on the show, which probably goes back to the careers of Sommers and Chevillat, who worked with people in vaudeville, film and radio like the Marx Brothers, Burns and Allen and Laurel & Hardy. There's lots of talk about our favorite and/or memorable episodes and bits, including Lisa's cooking, Oliver's empassioned speeches about farming and all the metatext in the show. This was a very fun show to record and discuss such a television classic. We hope to have Daniel back on the show to talk about some of his other areas of research he has done in his books and podcasts, including Supertrain and Time Express, that's the Vincent Price “Fantasy Island on a train” show whose name we couldn't remember.

The Problem: Merlin fell on his keys. (Recorded on Monday, August 21, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the offer code, “SUPERTRAIN”

The Problem: John came up in airplanes. (Recorded on Monday, August 7, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the offer code, “SUPERTRAIN”

The Problem: John only sees what he’s shown. (Recorded on Monday, July 17, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the offer code, “SUPERTRAIN”

The Problem: John forgot to get an end table. (Recorded on Monday, July 10, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the offer code, “SUPERTRAIN”

The Problem: John is a different kind of dog. (Recorded on Monday, June 19, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the offer code, “SUPERTRAIN”

The Problem: It's nice to turn things down. (Recorded on Monday, June 12, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the offer code, “SUPERTRAIN”

The Problem: John's not allowed to go to Egypt without his kid. (Recorded on Monday, May 1, 2023) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

 "You're Dr. Dipperz, man. Many, many babes are into that." Make a salad with Sarah and Lauren as they mosey on down grungy memory lane watching Singles. Cameron Crowe's 1992 tribute to young love in Seattle remains ultra-quotable and fun to this day. Featuring: Who can remember which Bill is which, Paxton or Pullman; less singing than you might imagine, smoking inside, really amazing hair and the solution to traffic in Seattle...SUPERTRAIN! Dipperz, you rock our world. Email us: dipperzpod@gmail.comInstagram: @dipperz_podcastSupport the pod! www.patreon.com/dipperz

The Problem: Ken is a punner. (Recorded on Monday, April 17, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: John's liver was somewhere else. (Recorded on Monday, April 3, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: John will follow you down a manhole. (Recorded on Monday, March 20, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: John’s daughter requested a push. (Recorded on Monday, March 6, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: John has a list of people that he feels bad for. (Recorded on Monday, February 20, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: It didn't connect under John's nose. (Recorded on Monday, February 13, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

This week, we talk about the 1980s Marvel Cinematic Universe that could have been, and eventually was. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the undisputed king of intellectual property in the entertainment industry. As of February 9th, 2023, the day I record this episode, there have been thirty full length motion pictures part of the MCU in the past fifteen years, with a combined global ticket sales of $28 billion, as well as twenty television shows that have been seen by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. It is a entertainment juggernaut that does not appear to be going away anytime soon.   This comes as a total shock to many of us who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, who were witness of cheaply produced television shows featuring hokey special effects and a roster of has-beens and never weres in the cast. Superman was the king of superheroes at the movies, in large part because, believe it or not, there hadn't even been a movie based on a Marvel Comics character released into theatres until the summer of 1986. But not for lack of trying.   And that's what we're going to talk about today. A brief history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 1980s.       But first, as always, some backstory.   Now, I am not approaching this as a comic fan. When I was growing up in the 80s, I collected comics, but my collection was limited to Marvel's Star Wars series, Marvel's ROM The SpaceKnight, and Marvel's two-issue Blade Runner comic adaptation in 1982. So I apologize to Marvel comics fans if I relay some of this information incorrectly. I have tried to do my due diligence when it comes to my research.   Marvel Comics got its start as Timely Comics back in 1939. On August 31, 1939, Timely would release its first comic, titled Marvel Comics, which would feature a number of short stories featuring versions of characters that would become long-running staples of the eventual publishing house that would bear the comic's name, including The Angel, a version of The Human Torch who was actually an android hero, and Namor the Submariner, who was originally created for a unpublished comic that was supposed to be given to kids when they attended their local movie theatre during a Saturday matinee.   That comic issue would quickly sell out its initial 80,000 print run, as well as its second run, which would put another 800,000 copies out to the marketplace. The Vision would be another character introduced on the pages of Marvel Comics, in November 1940.   In December 1940, Timely would introduce their next big character, Captain America, who would find instant success thanks to its front cover depicting Cap punching Adolph Hitler square in the jaw, proving that Americans have loved seeing Nazis get punched in the face even a year before our country entered the World War II conflict. But there would be other popular characters created during this timeframe, including Black Widow, The Falcon, and The Invisible Man.   In 1941, Timely Comics would lose two of its best collaborators, artists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, to rival company Detective Comics, and Timely owner Martin Goodman would promote one of his cousins, by marriage to his wife Jean no less, to become the interim editor of Timely Comics. A nineteen year old kid named Stanley Lieber, who would shorten his name to Stan Lee.   In 1951, Timely Comics would be rebranded at Atlas Comics, and would expand past superhero titles to include tales of crime, drama, espionage, horror, science fiction, war, western, and even romance comics.   Eventually, in 1961, Atlas Comics would rebrand once again as Marvel Comics, and would find great success by changing the focus of their stories from being aimed towards younger readers and towards a more sophisticated audience. It would be November 1961 when Marvel would introduce their first superhero team, The Fantastic Four, as well as a number of their most beloved characters including Black Panther, Carol Danvers, Iron Man, The Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, and Thor, as well as Professor X and many of the X-Men.   And as would be expected, Hollywood would come knocking. Warner Brothers would be in the best position to make comic book movies, as both they and DC Comics were owned by the same company beginning in 1969. But for Marvel, they would not be able to enjoy that kind of symbiotic relationship. Regularly strapped for cash, Stan Lee would often sell movie and television rights to a variety of Marvel characters to whomever came calling. First, Marvel would team with a variety of producers to create a series of animated television shows, starting with The Marvel Super Heroes in 1966, two different series based on The Fantastic Four, and both Spider-Man and Spider-Woman series.   But movies were a different matter.   The rights to make a Spider-Man television show, for example, was sold off to a production company called Danchuck, who teamed with CBS-TV to start airing the show in September of 1977, but Danchuck was able to find a loophole in their contract  that allowed them to release the two-hour pilot episode as a movie outside of the United States, which complicated the movie rights Marvel had already sold to another company.   Because the “movie” was a success around the world, CBS and Danchuck would release two more Spider-Man “movies” in 1978 and 1981. Eventually, the company that owned the Spider-Man movie rights to sell them to another company in the early 1980s, the legendary independent B-movie production company and distributor, New World Pictures, founded and operated by the legendary independent B-movie producer and director Roger Corman. But shortly after Corman acquired the film rights to Spider-Man, he went and almost immediately sold them to another legendary independent B-movie production company and distributor, Cannon Films.   Side note: Shortly after Corman sold the movie rights to Spider-Man to Cannon, Marvel Entertainment was sold to the company that also owned New World Pictures, although Corman himself had nothing to do with the deal itself. The owners of New World were hoping to merge the Marvel comic book characters with the studio's television and motion picture department, to create a sort of shared universe. But since so many of the better known characters like Spider-Man and Captain America had their movie and television rights sold off to the competition, it didn't seem like that was going to happen anytime soon, but again, I'm getting ahead of myself.   So for now, we're going to settle on May 1st, 1985. Cannon Films, who loved to spend money to make money, made a big statement in the pages of the industry trade publication Variety, when they bought nine full pages of advertising in the Cannes Market preview issue to announce that buyers around the world needed to get ready, because he was coming.   Spider-Man.   A live-action motion picture event, to be directed by Tobe Hooper, whose last movie, Poltergeist, re-ignited his directing career, that would be arriving in theatres for Christmas 1986. Cannon had made a name for themselves making cheapie teen comedies in their native Israel in the 1970s, and then brought that formula to America with films like The Last American Virgin, a remake of the first Lemon Popsicle movie that made them a success back home. Cannon would swerve into cheapie action movies with fallen stars like Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson, and would prop up a new action star in Chuck Norris, as well as cheapie trend-chasing movies like Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. They had seen enough success in America where they could start spending even bigger, and Spider-Man was supposed to be their first big splash into the superhero movie genre. With that, they would hire Leslie Stevens, the creator of the cult TV series The Outer Limits, to write the screenplay.   There was just one small problem.   Neither Stevens nor Cannon head honcho Menachem Golan understood the Spider-Man character.   Golan thought Spider-Man was a half-spider/half-man creature, not unlike The Wolf Man, and instructed Stevens to follow that concept. Stevens' script would not really borrow from any of the comics' twenty plus year history. Peter Parker, who in this story is a twenty-something ID photographer for a corporation that probably would have been Oscorp if it were written by anyone else who had at least some familiarity with the comics, who becomes intentionally bombarded with gamma radiation by one of the scientists in one of the laboratories, turning Bruce Banner… I mean, Peter Parker, into a hairy eight-armed… yes, eight armed… hybrid human/spider monster. At first suicidal, Bruce… I mean, Peter, refuses to join forces with the scientist's other master race of mutants, forcing Peter to battle these other mutants in a basement lab to the death.   To say Stan Lee hated it would be an understatement.   Lee schooled Golan and Golan's partner at Cannon, cousin Yoram Globus, on what Spider-Man was supposed to be, demanded a new screenplay. Wanting to keep the head of Marvel Comics happy, because they had big plans not only for Spider-Man but a number of other Marvel characters, they would hire the screenwriting team of Ted Newsom and John Brancato, who had written a screenplay adaptation for Lee of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, to come up with a new script for Spider-Man.   Newsom and Brancato would write an origin story, featuring a teenage Peter Parker who must deal with his newfound powers while trying to maintain a regular high school existence, while going up against an evil scientist, Otto Octavius. But we'll come back to that later.   In that same May 1985 issue of Variety, amongst dozens of pages of ads for movies both completed and in development, including three other movies from Tobe Hooper, was a one-page ad for Captain America. No director or actor was attached to the project yet, but comic book writer James L. Silke, who had written the scripts for four other Cannon movies in the previous two years, was listed as the screenwriter.   By October 1985, Cannon was again trying to pre-sell foreign rights to make a Spider-Man movie, this time at the MIFED Film Market in Milan, Italy. Gone were Leslie Stevens and Tobe Hooper. Newsom and Brancato were the new credited writers, and Joseph Tito, the director of the Chuck Norris/Cannon movies Missing in Action and Invasion U.S.A., was the new director. In a two-page ad for Captain America, the film would acquire a new director in Michael Winner, the director of the first three Death Wish movies.   And the pattern would continue every few months, from Cannes to MIFED to the American Film Market, and back to Cannes. A new writer would be attached. A new director. A new release date. By October 1987, after the twin failures of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Masters of the Universe, Cannon had all but given up on a Captain America movie, and downshifted the budget on their proposed Spider-Man movie. Albert Pyun, whose ability to make any movie in any genre look far better than its budget should have allowed, was brought in to be the director of Spider-Man, from a new script written by Shepard Goldman.   Who?   Shepard Goldman, whose one and only credit on any motion picture was as one of three screenwriters on the 1988 Cannon movie Salsa.   Don't remember Salsa? That's okay. Neither does anyone else.   But we'll talk a lot more about Cannon Films down the road, because there's a lot to talk about when it comes to Cannon Films, although I will leave you with two related tidbits…   Do you remember the 1989 Jean-Claude Van Damme film Cyborg? Post-apocalyptic cyberpunk martial-arts action film where JCVD and everyone else in the movie have names like Gibson Rickenbacker, Fender Tremolo, Marshall Strat and Pearl Prophet for no damn good reason? Stupid movie, lots of fun. Anyway, Albert Pyun was supposed to shoot two movies back to back for Cannon Films in 1988, a sequel to Masters of the Universe, and Spider-Man. To save money, both movies would use many of the same sets and costumes, and Cannon had spent more than $2m building the sets and costumes at the old Dino DeLaurentiis Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina, where David Lynch had shot Blue Velvet. But then Cannon ran into some cash flow issues, and lost the rights to both the He-Man toy line from Mattel and the Spider-Man characters they had licensed from Marvel. But ever the astute businessman, Cannon Films chairman Menahem Golan offered Pyun $500,000 to shoot any movie he wanted using the costumes and sets already created and paid for, provided Pyun could come up with a movie idea in a week. Pyun wrote the script to Cyborg in five days, and outside of some on-set alterations, that first draft would be the shooting script. The film would open in theatres in April 1989, and gross more than $10m in the United States alone.   A few months later, Golan would gone from Cannon Films. As part of his severance package, he would take one of the company's acquisitions, 21st Century Films, with him, as well as several projects, including Captain America. Albert Pyun never got to make his Spider-Man movie, but he would go into production on his Captain America in August 1989. But since the movie didn't get released in any form until it came out direct to video and cable in 1992, I'll leave it to podcasts devoted to 90s movies to tell you more about it. I've seen it. It's super easy to find on YouTube. It really sucks, although not as much as that 1994 version of The Fantastic Four that still hasn't been officially released nearly thirty years later.   There would also be attempts throughout the decade to make movies from the aforementioned Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Daredevil, the Incredible Hulk, Silver Surfer and Iron Man, from companies like New Line, 20th Century-Fox and Universal, but none of those would ever come to fruition in the 1980s.   But the one that would stick?   Of the more than 1,000 characters that had been featured in the pages of Marvel Comics over the course of forty years?   The one that would become the star of the first ever theatrically released motion picture based on a Marvel character?   Howard the Duck.   Howard the Duck was not your average Marvel superhero.   Howard the Duck wasn't even a superhero.   He was just some wise crackin', ill-tempered, anthropomorphic water fowl that was abducted away from his home on Duckworld and forced against his will to live with humans on Earth. Or, more specifically, first with the dirty humans of the Florida Everglades, and then Cleveland, and finally New York City.    Howard the Duck was metafiction and existentialist when neither of these things were in the zeitgeist. He smoked cigars, wore a suit and tie, and enjoy drinking a variety of libations and getting it on with the women, mostly his sometimes girlfriend Beverly.   The perfect character to be the subject of the very first Marvel movie.   A PG-rated movie.   Enter George Lucas.   In 1973, George Lucas had hit it big with his second film as a director, American Graffiti. Lucas had written the screenplay, based in part on his life as an eighteen year old car enthusiast about to graduate high school, with the help of a friend from his days at USC Film School, Willard Huyck, and Huyck's wife, Gloria Katz. Lucas wanted to show his appreciation for their help by producing a movie for them. Although there are variations to the story of how this came about, most sources say it was Huyck who would tell Lucas about this new comic book character, Howard the Duck, who piqued his classmate's interest by describing the comic as having elements of film noir and absurdism.   Because Universal dragged their feet on American Graffiti, not promoting it as well as they could have upon its initial release and only embracing the film when the public embraced its retro soundtrack, Lucas was not too keen on working with Universal again on his next project, a sci-fi movie he was calling The Journal of the Whills. And while they saw some potential in what they considered to be some minor kiddie movie, they didn't think Lucas could pull it off the way he was describing it for the budget he was asking for.   “What else you got, kid?” they'd ask.   Lucas had Huyck and Katz, and an idea for a live-action comic book movie about a talking duck.   Surprisingly, Universal did not slam the door shut in Lucas's face. They actually went for the idea, and worked with Lucas, Stan Lee of Marvel Comics and Howard's creator, Steve Gerber, to put a deal together to make it happen.   Almost right away, Gerber and the screenwriters, Huyck and Katz, would butt heads on practically every aspect of the movie's storyline. Katz just thought it was some funny story about a duck from outer space and his wacky adventures on Earth, Gerber was adamant that Howard the Duck was an existential joke, that the difference between life's most serious moments and its most incredibly dumb moments were only distinguishable by a moment's point of view. Huyck wanted to make a big special effects movie, while Katz thought it would be fun to set the story in Hawaii so she and her husband could have some fun while shooting there. The writers would spend years on their script, removing most everything that made the Howard the Duck comic book so enjoyable to its readers. Howard and his story would be played completely straight in the movie, leaning on subtle gags not unlike a Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker movie, instead of embracing the surreal ridiculousness of the comics. They would write humongous effects-heavy set pieces, knowing they would have access to their producer's in-house special effects team, Industrial Light and Magic, instead of the comics' more cerebral endings. And they'd tone down the more risqué aspects of Howard's personality, figuring a more family-friendly movie would bring in more money at the box office.   It would take nearly twelve years for all the pieces to fall into place for Howard the Duck to begin filming. But in the spring of 1985, Universal finally gave the green light for Lucas and his tea to finally make the first live-action feature film based on a Marvel Comics character.   For Beverly, the filmmakers claimed to have looked at every young actress in Hollywood before deciding on twenty-four year old Lea Thompson, who after years of supporting roles in movies like Jaws 3-D, All the Right Moves and Red Dawn, had found success playing Michael J. Fox's mother in Back to the Future. Twenty-six year old Tim Robbins had only made two movies up to this point, at one of the frat boys in Fraternity Vacation and as one of the fighter pilots in Top Gun, and this was his first chance to play a leading role in a major motion picture. And Jeffrey Jones would be cast as the bad guy, the Dark Overlord, based upon his work in the 1984 Best Picture winner Amadeus, although he would be coming to the set of Howard the Duck straight off of working on a John Hughes movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.   Howard the Duck would begin shooting on the Universal Studios lot of November 11th, 1985, and on the very first day of production, the duck puppet being used to film would have a major mechanical failure, not unlike the mechanical failure of the shark in Jaws that would force Steven Spielberg to become more creative with how he shot that character. George Lucas, who would be a hands-on producer, would suggest that maybe they could shoot other scenes not involving the duck, while his crew at ILM created a fully functional, life-sized animatronic duck costume for a little actor to wear on set. At first, the lead actor in the duck suit was a twelve-year old boy, but within days of his start on the film, he would develop a severe case of claustrophobia inside the costume. Ed Gale, originally hired to be the stuntman in the duck costume, would quickly take over the role. Since Gale could work longer hours than the child, due to the very restrictive laws surrounding child actors on movie and television sets, this would help keep the movie on a good production schedule, and make shooting the questionable love scenes between Howard and Beverly easier for Ms. Thompson, who was creeped out at the thought of seducing a pre-teen for a scene.   To keep the shoot on schedule, not only would the filmmakers employ a second shooting unit to shoot the scenes not involving the main actors, which is standard operating procedure on most movies, Lucas would supervise a third shooting unit that would shoot Robbins and Gale in one of the film's more climactic moments, when Howard and Phil are trying to escape being captured by the authorities by flying off on an ultralight plane. Most of this sequence would be shot in the town of Petaluma, California, on the same streets where Lucas had shot American Graffiti's iconic cruising scenes thirteen years earlier.   After a month-long shoot of the film's climax at a naval station in San Francisco, the film would end production on March 26th, 1986, leaving the $36m film barely four months to be put together in order to make its already set in stone August 1st, 1986, release date.   Being used to quick turnaround times, the effects teams working on the film would get all their shots completed with time to spare, not only because they were good at their jobs but they had the ability to start work before the film went into production. For the end sequence, when Jones' character had fully transformed into the Dark Overlord, master stop motion animator Phil Tippett, who had left ILM in 1984 to start his own effects studio specializing in that style of animation, had nearly a year to put together what would ultimately be less than two minutes of actual screen time.   As Beverly was a musician, Lucas would hire English musician and composer Thomas Dolby, whose 1982 single She Blinded Me With Science became a global smash hit, to write the songs for Cherry Bomb, the all-girl rock group lead by Lea Thompson's Beverly. Playing KC, the keyboardist for Cherry Bomb, Holly Robinson would book her first major acting role. For the music, Dolby would collaborate with Allee Willis, the co-writer of Earth Wind and Fire's September and Boogie Wonderland, and funk legend George Clinton. But despite this powerhouse musical trio, the songs for the band were not very good, and, with all due respect to Lea Thompson, not very well sung.   By August 1986, Universal Studios needed a hit. Despite winning the Academy Award for Best Picture in March with Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa, the first six films they released for the year were all disappointments at the box office and/or with the critics.    The Best of Times, a comedy featuring Robin Williams and Kurt Russell as two friends who try to recreate a high school football game which changed the direction of both their lives. Despite a script written by Ron Shelton, who would be nominated for an Oscar for his next screenplay, Bull Durham, and Robin Williams, the $12m film would gross less than $8m.    The Money Pit, a comedy with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, would end up grossing $37m against a $10m budget, but the movie was so bad, its first appearance on DVD wouldn't come until 2011, and only as part of a Tom Hanks Comedy Favorites Collection along with The ‘Burbs and Dragnet.   Legend, a dark fantasy film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, was supposed to be one of the biggest hits… of 1985. But Scott and the studio would fight over the film, with the director wanting them to release a two hour and five minute long version with a classical movie score by Jerry Goldsmith, while the studio eventually cut the film down an hour and twenty-nine minutes with a techno score by Tangerine Dream. Despite an amazing makeup job transforming Tim Curry into the Lord of Darkness as well as sumptuous costumes and cinematography, the $24.5m film would just miss recouping its production budget back in ticket sales.   Tom Cruise would become a superstar not three weeks later, when Paramount Pictures released Top Gun, directed by Ridley's little brother Tony Scott.   Sweet Liberty should have been a solid performer for the studio. Alan Alda, in his first movie since the end of MASH three years earlier, would write, direct and star in this comedy about a college history professor who must watch in disbelief as a Hollywood production comes to his small town to film the movie version of one of the books. The movie, which also starred Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Michelle Pfieffer and screen legend Lillian Gish, would get lost in the shuffle of other comedies that were already playing in theatres like Ferris Bueller and Short Circuit.   Legal Eagles was the movie to beat for the summer of 1986… at least on paper. Ivan Reitman's follow-up film to Ghostbusters would feature a cast that included Robert Redford, Debra Winger and Daryl Hannah, along with Brian Denny, Terence Stamp, and Brian Doyle-Murray, and was perhaps too much movie, being a legal romantic comedy mystery crime thriller.   Phew.   If I were to do an episode about agency packaging in the 1980s, the process when a talent agency like Creative Artists Agency, or CAA, put two or more of their clients together in a project not because it might be best for the movie but best for the agency that will collect a 10% commission from each client attached to the project, Legal Eagles would be the example of packaging gone too far. Ivan Reitman was a client of CAA. As were Redford,  and Winger, and Hannah. As was Bill Murray, who was originally cast in the Redford role. As were Jim Cash and Jack Epps, the screenwriters for the film. As was Tom Mankewicz, the co-writer of Superman and three Bond films, who was brought in to rewrite the script when Murray left and Redford came in. As was Frank Price, the chairman of Universal Pictures when the project was put together. All told, CAA would book more than $1.5m in commissions for themselves from all their clients working on the film.   And it sucked.   Despite the fact that it had almost no special effects, Legal Eagles would cost $40m to produce, one of the most expensive movies ever made to that point, nearly one and a half times the cost of Ghostbusters. The film would gross nearly $50m in the US, which would make it only the 14th highest grossing film of the year. Less than Stand By Me. Less than The Color of Money. Less than Down and Out in Beverly Hills.   And then there was Psycho III, the Anthony Perkins-directed slasher film that brought good old Norman Bates out of mothballs once again. An almost direct follow-up to Psycho II from 1983, the film neither embraced by horror film fans or critics, the film would only open in eighth place, despite the fact there hadn't been a horror movie in theatres for months, and its $14m gross would kill off any chance for a Psycho IV in theatres.   In late June, Universal would hold a series of test screenings for Howard the Duck. Depending on who you talk to, the test screenings either went really well, or went so bad that one of the writers would tear up negative response cards before they could be given to the score compilers, to goose the numbers up, pun only somewhat intended. I tend to believe the latter story, as it was fairly well reported at the time that the test screenings went so bad, Sid Sheinberg, the CEO of Universal, and Frank Price, the President of the studio, got into a fist fight in the lobby of one of the theatres running one of the test screenings, over who was to blame for this impending debacle.   And a debacle it was.   But just how bad?   So bad, copywriters from across the nation reveled in giddy glee over the chances to have a headline that read “‘Howard the Duck' Lays an Egg!”   And it did.   Well, sort of.   When it opened in 1554 theatres on August 1st, the film would gross $5.07m, the second best opener of the weekend, behind the sixth Friday the 13th entry, and above other new movies like the Tom Hanks/Jackie Gleason dramedy Nothing in Common and the cult film in the making Flight of the Navigator. And $5m in 1986 was a fairly decent if unspectacular opening weekend gross. The Fly was considered a massive success when it opened to $7m just two weeks later. Short Circuit, which had opened to $5.3m in May, was also lauded as being a hit right out of the gate.   And the reviews were pretty lousy. Gene Siskel gave the film only one star, calling it a stupid film with an unlikeable lead in the duck and special effects that were less impressive than a sparkler shoved into a birthday cake. Both Siskel and Ebert would give it the dreaded two thumbs down on their show. Leonard Maltin called the film hopeless. Today, the film only has a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 81 reviews.   But despite the shellacking the film took, it wouldn't be all bad for several of the people involved in the making of the film.   Lea Thompson was so worried her career might be over after the opening weekend of the film, she accepted a role in the John Hughes movie Some Kind of Wonderful that she had turned down multiple times before. As I stated in our March 2021 episode about that movie, it's my favorite of all John Hughes movies, and it would lead to a happy ending for Thompson as well. Although the film was not a massive success, Thompson and the film's director, Howard Deutch, would fall in love during the making of the film. They would marry in 1989, have two daughters together, and as of the writing of this episode, they are still happily married.   For Tim Robbins, it showed filmmakers that he could handle a leading role in a movie. Within two years, he would be starring alongside Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham, and he career would soar for the next three decades.   And for Ed Gale, his being able to act while in a full-body duck suit would lead him to be cast to play Chucky in the first two Child's Play movies as well as Bride of Chucky.   Years later, Entertainment Weekly would name Howard the Duck as the biggest pop culture failure of all time, ahead of such turkeys as NBC's wonderfully ridiculous 1979 show Supertrain, the infamous 1980 Western Heaven's Gate, Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman's Ishtar, and the truly wretched 1978 Bee Gees movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.   But Howard the Duck, the character, not the movie, would enjoy a renaissance in 2014, when James Gunn included a CG-animated version of the character in the post-credit sequence for Guardians of the Galaxy. The character would show up again in the Disney animated Guardians television series, and in the 2021 Disney+ anthology series Marvel's What If…   There technically would be one other 1980s movie based on a Marvel character, Mark Goldblatt's version of The Punisher, featuring Dolph Lundgren as Frank Castle. Shot in Australia in 1988, the film was supposed to be released by New World Pictures in August of 1989. The company even sent out trailers to theatres that summer to help build awareness for the film, but New World's continued financial issues would put the film on hold until April 1991, when it was released directly to video by Live Entertainment.   It wouldn't be until the 1998 release of Blade, featuring Wesley Snipes as the titular vampire, that movies based on Marvel Comics characters would finally be accepted by movie-going audiences. That would soon be followed by Bryan Singer's X-Men in 2000, and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in 2002, the success of both prompting Marvel to start putting together the team that would eventually give birth to the Marvel Cinematic Universe we all know and love today.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 102, the first of two episodes about the 1980s distribution company Vestron Pictures, is released.   Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Howard the Duck, and the other movies, both existing and non-existent, we covered this episode.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

The Problem: It's roughly the same piece wood. (Recorded on Monday, February 6, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: The guy rolled up with a full dog. (Recorded on Monday, January 9, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: Things come over John's family transom. (Recorded on Monday, January 2, 2023.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: John sat by the globe.

The Problem: John doesn't know what the baseline is. (Recorded on Monday, November 28, 2022.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

GGACP celebrates Thanksgiving 2022 with what else? An entire episode devoted to TV Turkeys (aka terrible and "preposterous" TV programs) including "You're in the Picture," "Hello, Larry," "Misfits of Science" and of course, "Pink Lady and Jeff." In this episode, Jackie Gleason apologizes, "Supertrain" goes off the rails, Fred Silverman invents "Jiggle TV" and Raybone provides actual research. PLUS: Meadowlark Lemon! The World of Sid and Marty Krofft! Paul Lynde hosts a game show! (not really)! Gilbert tries to forget "Thicke of the Night"! And Tim Conway stars in the worst sketch show of all time! (Thanks for the inspiration, Kevin Allman!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Problem: What happens if the mule dies? (Recorded on Thursday, November 10, 2022.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: Mr. Roderick has a need-to-know first name. (Recorded on Monday, October 17, 2022.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by: Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.” Rocket Money. Take full control of your subscriptions with Rocket Money.

The Problem: The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has a vampire problem. (Recorded on Monday, October 3, 2022.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by: Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.” Rocket Money. Take full control of your subscriptions with Rocket Money.

The Problem: John was a country mouse. (Recorded on Monday, September 19, 2022.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: It’s just one of those things. (Recorded on Monday, September 12, 2022.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by: Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.” Truebill. Fight back against scammy subscriptions.

The Problem: John doesn't smile frivolously. (Recorded on Monday, August 22, 2022.) Support Roderick on the Line on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: There was a very dirty guy. (Recorded on Monday, August 8, 2022.) Support John's work on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: There's no love in this. (Recorded on Monday, July 25, 2022.) Support John's work on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: The crows really love those grubs. (Recorded on Monday, July 11, 2022.) Support John's work on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by: Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.” Truebill. Fight back against scammy subscriptions.

The Problem: John is powered by confusion. (Recorded on Monday, June 27, 2022.) Support John's work on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: Unfortunately, his name can only be scatted. (Recorded on Monday, June 13, 2022.) Support John's work on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by: Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.” Truebill. Fight back against scammy subscriptions.

The Problem: John lost the gravestone many years ago. (Recorded on Monday, May 30, 2022.) Support John's work on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Mack Weldon. Mack Weldon is better than whatever you're wearing right now. Use offer code “SUPERTRAIN” for 20% off your order.

The Problem: It's a moldy country. (Recorded on Monday, May 23, 2022.) Support John's work on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: John had to be that guy (Recorded on Monday, May 16, 2022.) Support John's work on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by: Truebill. Fight back against scammy subscriptions. Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: John seeks out cops to talk to. (Recorded on Monday, May 2, 2022.) Support John's work on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by: Truebill. Fight back against scammy subscriptions. Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: Here comes Baby Yoda. (Recorded on Monday, April 25, 2022.) Support John's work on Patreon. Radio Shack Flyer, 1991 This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by Mack Weldon. Mack Weldon is better than whatever you're wearing right now. Use offer code “SUPERTRAIN” for 20% off your order.

The Problem: John is the Russian Army. (Recorded on Monday, April 18, 2022.) Support John's work on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by: Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”

The Problem: You're responsible for keeping the swimming pool clean. (Recorded on Monday, April 11, 2022.) Support John's work on Patreon. This episode of Roderick on the Line is brought to you by: Truebill. Fight back against scammy subscriptions. Squarespace. Free trial plus 10% off your first purchase with the special offer code, “SUPERTRAIN.”