STAR WORN - Theme Covers Collection (Discs 1 & 2, Leaping Fox)

 

Do you ever start a project, and wonder why you started it? Do you ever start a project, and wonder if it will ever end? After many, many hours of work, and a four month delay, we are pleased to reveal this new project, at last.  

The question was this:  How many vintage covers of the Star Wars theme exist? The song was everywhere in the late 1970's, and it seems like everybody had a go at it.  The subject is covered in various books and articles, although they all seem to include different material in their lists.  Like our earlier project of Star Wars rip-off songs, I wanted to stay in the original era, and go no further than the first sequel.  As it turns out, the answer was "a whole lot;" in fact, about 268 minutes' worth, and 5 discs!

Thinking back, when I was a young kid, it always irritated me when I obtained a record with a cover version of a song, and the cover didn't sound exactly like the original song (which is what I was after in the first place, no doubt).  I now know this was simply musical immaturity, but it makes me laugh to think about, because I later learned that a well-done cover is one where the artist puts something of themselves into it, and translates it somehow into a new-ish sort of thing.  And, that is the case with the best of the tracks here...why would you want to listen to bands parroting John Williams' original theme note for note, more than 50 times?

This is a good place to explain that covers of the Star Wars theme fall into three categories.  First, we have general interpretations of the theme, which are all over the map in styles (which makes for a fun listen).  These tracks are contained in Discs 1 & 2.  Secondly, we have what I have jokingly referred to as "Boring Orchestral Covers and Suites," because that's what they are (see above comment about listening to copies of the original track 50+ times).  Luckily, these tracks only take up one disc, which is Disc 3.  Lastly, we shouldn't underestimate the phenomenon that was Meco and his disco interpretation of the John Williams score, because he spawned myriads of covers himself...so many, in fact, that they take up the entirety of Discs 4 & 5! And it probably goes without saying, but lots of these tracks were specific to individual countries, and have never been re-released since their original vinyl outings, with no signs of that ever changing.

So is this collection complete? Far as I know.  Are there more, somewhere? Could be.  I'm always amazed at how the amount of vintage media, which should be quite finite, continues to grow...which, is pretty much a paradox.  

Here are the first two discs, which give you thirty tracks displaying the original theme in just about every way it can be done.  It's really not like listening to the same song over and over, and if you agree, then it means this was a successful project...that I barely lived through!

Disc One: Theme Covers

Disc Two: Theme Covers

GODZILLA GAME (Mattel, 1978)

 

Here is an item that I bet you are likely to know something about, since you are a visitor to this site.  Somehow I have neglected to do an official post on this iconic game, all these years, and it's time to rectify that omission!

Now, the title says it all; this was the companion landmark item to the Shogun Warriors Godzilla that same year.  Kids either:  had this game, new somebody that did, and/or wanted it desperately.  Before we jump in, rather than use this video as an afterthought, let's lead with the famous (in these parts) TV commercial:

That ad is still so exciting, it makes me want to buy another copy of the game! As we saw in the commercial, players would take turns spinning, and flying some of their 24 colorful spaceships around the galaxy by turning a large wheel.  The suspense builds because, what they don't know is whether Godzilla will strike at any time, suddenly chomping their ship and showing no mercy!

One thing you will see here (at the end of the post) is the instruction sheet, which is pretty rare for some reason.  What I found really interesting was the opening paragraph:

"The evil Godzilla is raiding the galaxies, bent on revenge for having been driven from the planet Earth.  Now he is hiding behind an asteroid (a small planet) hurtling through space.  You've got to maneuver your spaceships around the asteroid and avoid the horror of being caught in Godzilla's radioactive jaws.  The last player to have spaceships on the wheel wins the game and lives to fight the monster another day."

Interestingly, while the game alludes to some continuity by insinuating that Godzilla is out for revenge and "driven from" the Earth, it doesn't quite jive, considering he was Earth's defender in his last several films...not to mention, the helpful sidekick to a boat-crew of humans in the animated series that started airing that fall! There is a bit of continuity to be found though; hold that thought...

What I never grasped, for all these years, was that Godzilla was supposed to be popping out from (or "hiding behind") an asteroid.  I mean, if you look at the artwork for the game, you can see the round edges of a green planet-looking shape, but it took finally obtaining the instruction sheet for me to understand exactly what was going on.  What a strange concept, especially for the time (even though most everything was space-themed in 1978, for the obvious reason)...we wouldn't see anything even close to that idea in an actual film until, what, SPACEGODZILLA? Sort of?

The instructions have some amusing artwork, especially at the bottom of the first page, where happy kids' faces show you where you are supposed to sit...with a large DO NOT SIT HERE, which, you'll note, is exactly where the overacting girl is who steals the show in the commercial!

And, there's a little more strategy involved than I knew of as a kid.  If the spinner stops at a blank space, you are required to move one of your spare (not on the board) spaceships to that space before taking your turn.  Conversely, if the spinner points to one of your own ships, you can actually trade places with one of your opponent's ships "if you think Godzilla is about to strike"!!! We always played the "Quick Fun Game" version, listed at the bottom of the second page, where you replace a ship from your own inventory as soon as it's been nabbed by Godzilla.

Back of the box...hey wait, is that kid on the right in the DO NOT SIT HERE position? Rulebreaker!

Also, note that Mattel would actually send you an entire spare set of 24 more spaceships for a measly two bucks...and it doesn't say anything about shipping and handling! 

The game boasts some incredible, striking artwork, and besides the front of the box, there are three additional portraits of Godzilla to be found around the base itself!

Now, take a close look at that third panel of artwork...do you notice anything interesting?

On the side of the spaceship is "P-1"...now where have I heard that before? Then it struck me:

The P-1 is the name of the spaceship in MONSTER ZERO! My mind is blown.  Now, I should point out that there was a real-world P-1 that blew up on the launching pad in 1959, but clearly our game-makers, or at least the artist, are true fans.

I can't top that, but here are the scans of the instructions, as promised!

The Ken Films Godzilla Guide

 

I utilized some down time last year to get to the bottom of this particular and unique Godzilla collectible.  We scratched the surface on this subject in our series of Godzilla in the 1960's posts, but now it's past time to complete the discussion, and, once and for all, put these into their proper place on the calendar of Godzilla collectibles. (You often see these films referred to as being from the decade of the 1960's, because people assume that they were released close to their theatrical release dates, but this is not even close to true.  Only two of the films on this list were made available in that decade!)

Home movies were the very first way that you could enjoy a motion picture in your own home, on your own schedule.  Not only that, but for the first time, you could own it.  Granted, these early 8-millimeter films were black-and-white, silent (often with added subtitles), and only excerpts, but film collecting as a hobby had begun.

Ken Films was only one of the companies who issued such films.  They were probably the smartest, because they endeavored to make as many licensing deals with major studios as they possibly could.  Their catalog was large, and they survived into the early days of the VCR.  

Five of the seven releases were are going to examine were available in two lengths:  50-foot reels (which lasted around 3&1/2 minutes) and 200-foot reels (which lasted about 14 minutes).  It is important to point out that the box art, from a front view, is completely identical between these two sizes.  If you are looking at an Internet auction, and you are shown no other items to compare the scale, you will have no way of knowing what you are trying to buy, unless you can see (or ask for) the item number on the spine of the box.  The 50-foot reels had numbers that always started with the digit "5," while the 200-foot reels always began with a "2."

The invention of the Super 8 format in 1965 added variant editions to the films that were released, meaning that there were now four releases for each film (50 and 200 foot versions of both 8mm and Super 8). You might suspect that the arrival of color and sound created even more editions of each film, but this is not the case.  In fact, by the end of our list, Ken Films had dropped the 8mm format completely, as you will see.

1) Rodan the Flying Monster (Ken Films #229 & #529, 1964-65).

8mm: 50 and 200 feet; Super 8: 50 and 200 feet.

You'll notice that Ken Films often merely used stickers to indicate a Super 8 edition.  In the mid-1970's, they changed this practice and began printing a red SUPER 8 box in the upper-right of the artwork (as I said, they dropped 8mm completely at this time, so it made sense).  Not all of the films on this list were reprinted, but I have seen a couple that were, thereby creating another variant, if you are so inclined!

2)Varan the Unbelievable (Ken Films #236 & #536, 1965).

8mm: 50 and 200 feet; Super 8: 50 and 200 feet.

This version of this film has not had an official release since mid-90's VHS!

3) Ghidrah the Three Headed Monster (Ken Films #261 & #561, 1973).

8mm: 50 and 200 feet; Super 8: 50 and 200 feet.

Subtitled "Monster of all Monsters," it's a little confusing, since there are two GHIDRAH releases (the other is often referred to as "Ghidrah Battles"), meaning Ken gave you more of this movie than any of the others (there's even a YouTube video where somebody's edited both together!).  

4) Godzilla vs. The Thing (Ken Films #262 & #562, 1973).

8mm: 50 and 200 feet; Super 8: 50 and 200 feet.

This film was obviously a good seller, because it was also reprinted later when the 8mm version was dropped.

5) Ghidrah the Three Headed Monster Battles Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan for the World! (Ken Films #263 & #563, 1973).

8mm: 50 and 200 feet; Super 8: 50 and 200 feet.

And now you see why people call it "Ghidrah Battles!" 1973 was a banner year for Ken Films kaiju, though!

6) Destroy All Monsters (Ken Films #277, 1975).

Super 8: 200-foot B&W silent, 200-foot B&W sound, 200-foot Color sound.

Here is the most unique film on our list, because it was only available in three types, and all of them were the larger 200-foot versions.  Ken Films wisely realized they had to treat this one right, and God bless them for it (although that's one of the worst depictions of Rodan I've ever seen; he looks like one of those bobbing drinking bird toys).  This compact edition of the Toho classic (featuring the original AIP dub of course) was so good, it was even restored and included on the Tokyo Shock Blu-Ray of the film...which Toho later ruined by pulling all of the Special Features (booooo!).  The color and sound version is an expensive film, if you can find it today.

7) Frankenstein Conquers the World (Ken Films #278, 1975.)

Super 8: 200-foot B&W silent, 200-foot B&W sound.

The only other Toho film that Ken released with sound was the beloved Baragon's initial outing, but they did not take it all the way to glorious color, as they did with DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.  Unfortunately, they merely paid somebody to reproduce artwork from American posters (which was a common Ken Films practice, to varying results), which meant that nobody actually watched the film first, and realized that Baragon was supposed to have ears!

We conclude with a handy chart, showing all of the Ken Films releases we've discussed:

If you're keeping track, that makes a total of 25 films altogether.  

Wes Harrison - The One and Only (1969)

 

Here is a fun album I picked up recently for a dollar.  Wes Harrison was a comedian who was able make incredible sound effects, using only a Shure microphone.  This self-released LP contains his nightclub routine, and it's a lot of fun.  Some are pretty amazing, in particular, his "train" routine.  My copy looks exactly like the one pictured, in that he hand-signed practically every album he ever sold.  According to Wikipedia, he was even hired to supply sound effects for PETER PAN, 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, and some Tom and Jerry cartoons! Enjoy!

LINK: The One and Only

How to De-Chrome a Vintage Action Figure!

 

Isn't this an interesting image? Last year, I saw an Ebay seller who kept offering these amazing vintage Kenner Star Wars figures (namely, C-3PO and the Death Star Droid) that were "de-chromed" through a supposedly special process.  He kept ending up with interesting examples such as these:

Which were multi-colored, much as the highly-coveted Kenner prototype figures are, meaning they were made of leftover plastic from various (and test) items.  

From my own experience, any such figures I had ever seen where the vac-metalization had rubbed off were beige in color underneath, so I was curious to perform such an experiment myself, to see if I could get so lucky.  I researched it, and there are several chemicals that you could choose from to accomplish this.

From a website about model car parts, I learned that regular household bleach was the easiest to obtain (since I didn't have any brake fluid lying around), so I went with that.  I figure anything too strong would damage the plastic, anyway.  I first stripped a damaged Death Star Droid I'd ended up with.  It took a few days, and even then required some working over with an old toothbrush.  He ended up completely off-white, as I'd suspected.

The hardest part is to keep the figure submerged, because they are incredibly buoyant.  For my second go around, I found a heavy ring that was part of a lanyard (I think) for nametags, which had a clip, so I attached a loop to the clip that would loosely hold the figure's leg, and still keep it completely under.  This time around, for the C-3PO, I left the figure marinating for a few days longer.  As you can see from the photo, the gold flaked off and turned rust-colored in the bleach, and was quite unappealing.  

For those who may try this stunt themselves, I had to add some extra bleach after three or four days, and all I had the second time was a "splash-proof" brand that is formulated to pour easier...I don't know what they do to it, but it foamed quite a bit, and stayed that way.  It could have been a reaction to the action figure or something, but bleach is something that you want to behave when you are working with it, so I'd recommend the normal variety.  

In the end, the C-3PO was completely beige as well.  I would say "go figure," but that would be a bad pun, and that is frowned upon around here. 

ABC Transcription Disc: "Philco Television Spot for 11/24/48" & Bizarre Extras

This is a weird one, so stay with me!

This record is exactly the sort of thing that I can't resist, because usually, things like this are completely unique, historical in some way, and often bizarre on some level.  However, in this case, it was a lot stranger than I even guessed.

First off, this is a 12-inch, one-sided disc.  It's a covered aluminum plate, and has three spindle-holes rather than one (you can see where the other holes are, on the label).  This is the kind of "recordable" disc that was used in transcription machines.  It came in a torn-up manilla sleeve with the Soundcraft logo on it:

At this site, you can see scans of a Soundcraft brochure from this time period, that even shows all the equipment it took to actually cut such records, which is pretty fascinating in itself.  (The same sorts of machines were installed in some department stores, allowing customers to pay to cut their own smaller records in booths.  A recording restored for the Beatles Anthology was one of these types--in fact, I have one such record that is speech-only that we will get to in the near future.)

And now, on to the content of this record.  From this disc, we know that this process was used to distribute some radio ads.  But wait, there's more! This record contains three distinct bands, each locked from the other.

The first band is the content described on the label.  It's a 58-second ad for the Philco television sets, recorded at 33 and 1/3 speed, and it's interesting on its own.  What is bugging the life out of me, though, is who the announcer is.  It's a voice that's familiar to me, and my brain is telling me that it's an announcer from some OTR (Old Time Radio) show that I've heard quite a bit of.  I even went back and tried to sample episodes of several shows, but announcers tended to come and go, and I couldn't find him.  To quote Rocky the Flying Squirrel, "That voice! Where have I heard that voice?!" If anyone can solve this mystery for me, I'd be forever indebted!

At this point, the record comes to a dead stop at a locked band.  It was evident there was more content, and I lifted the needle to allow it to travel to the next section.  It was increeeeeeedibly slow, so it dawned on me that we were in 78 rpm territory, which I corrected.  The DJ announces an episode of "Challenge of the Yukon," (which was about the famous Sgt. Preston of the Yukon, and his dog, Yukon King).  The episode begins, but we hear only the introduction, which sounds off-line.  Then, the record hits another locked band.

Jumping the needle to the third and last section, still at 78 speed, everything gets even weirder.  The same DJ seems to be messing around [I made a full transcript, and it is included with the file], doing time-checks, random announcements, and.......barking like a dog (who he then begins talking to).  It's quite bizarre.  The whole disc is over in just under five minutes.  

My theory on all of this is that, in this case, the radio spots that a station received (in this case, purporting to be WENR in Chicago) were delivered on partially-used recording discs, and some supervisor told a young, potential radio announcer to use the remaining space to practice at his own leisure.  That's the only thing that really makes sense for all of this!

Anyway, it's an interesting curio that probably shouldn't even exist, and that is just the sort of thing we will spotlight around here!

LINK:  ABC Transcription Disc 11/24/48

UPDATE (Nov. 2022): The amateur [and interesting] part of the above has been further improved with Audacity, and sounds better than before.  Ain't technology grand? Also, a companion disc has been located, with more of the same person messing around, and it's equally nutty.  See it HERE.

GODZILLA ATTACKS LOS ANGELES "Transforming Head Playset" Watch (Nelsonic, 1995)

 

Sometimes I look to see what the most-read posts are on this site, and it never fails that one or more of my articles on the Trendmasters "Transforming Head" Godzilla playsets from the 1990's are in the top ten.  These seven playsets are among the greatest of Trendmasters' Godzilla accomplishments. [There is a post spotlighting each one; just search "Micro Playset" and you'll find them--the first one is here!] Made during the heyday of "Micro Machines," I always thought Trendmasters outdid their competition with this line.  In fact, some of them are quite rare, and I've been amazed to watch the prices rise on Ebay over the last few years.  

What you may not have known was that there was one additional "transforming head" playset out there...and the bad news is, it's just about as rare as some of the later playsets.  It exists in the form of a digital wristwatch from the Nelsonic company, from 1995, bearing the title "Godzilla Attacks Los Angeles."

Now, before we go any farther, you'll notice that this is packaged to fit in with Trendmasters' then-current KING OF THE MONSTERS line.  Outside, you'll also notice that the Godzilla head is a scaled-down replica of the other playsets, that matches completely. Inside, it's actually a shrunken-down version of the "Mechagodzilla in Los Angeles" playset from Trendmasters' first wave [you can compare the full-size one in this post!], down to the Hollywood sign and the stripey camouflage on the storage tank! Because of all of these things, I have no doubt that Trendmasters did the actual manufacturing on the "toy" part of this watch for Nelsonic.  

This is, without a doubt, the tiniest Godzilla in my entire collection.  You can see that he sticks into a peg on the playset, but you can imagine that he would be easily lost (by the way, that's the actual digital watch screen, to the right of the little G)!

So there you have it; this little cousin is the unofficial 8th in the great series of Godzilla micro-playsets.  It's endearing, ingenious, and completely impractical, all at the same time.  They very rarely come up on Ebay, but if you're desperate to have one, there is a foreign-packaged version from Italy (with identical contents) that does pop up from time to time!

EDIT: Here are some opened images that I found in my archive (from an old Ebay auction):

DINOSAURS! (Leo the Lion, 1966)

I suppose the actual title of this record is:  "DINOSAURS! A Dramatic Version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's THE LOST WORLD Featuring Basil Rathbone....." but where do you stop?

It doesn't matter, because mark my words, my friends, this is great stuff.  This record is so well-made, it would seemingly belittle it to classify it as a children's record.  However, to be fair, it comes from an era where solid entertainment could be made for kids without feeling the need to completely dumb everything down to levels of absurdity.

Featuring a delightfully over-the-top performance by the great Basil Rathbone, as well as the also-great Peter Fernandez (whose name should be familiar to you from Speed Racer, let alone the great American dubs of Godzilla/Toho movies done at Titra/Titan studios), this is a top-notch effort that will impress you.  It even stays overwhelmingly faithful to the book, although simplifying the plot (also there is one minor change that surprised me--without spoiling the story, it has to do with the proof that the group brings back from the Lost World) somewhat, which is obviously required when you reduce a novel to a 38-minute audio story.   The script, sound effects, and performances are all enthralling.  Even when brief educational factoids are thrown in about a specific dinosaur, it doesn't hinder the plot (if you can believe that)! I enjoyed it immensely, and I think any kaiju and/or dinosaur fan will too!

LINK:  Dinosaurs! (not the Jim Henson sitcom with the baby)

Play-Doh Star Wars Action Set (Kenner, 1979)

From 1979, here is the great Play-Doh Star Wars Action Set.  If you are like me, you have many fond memories of this set.  It's complete, apparently unused, and it only took me four different auctions to finish (vintage Play-Doh cans take some time to find, these days)!

I cleaned the box, repaired one tear with acid-free glue, and also ironed some of it.  This is a trick I learned from a board game collector, using a regular steam iron (with no water in it).  You can achieve some pretty amazing results, especially for the thinner cardboard.  I've certainly never tried corrugated or super-heavy cardboard, but I doubt that would be very effective.

The set from my childhood "lived" at my grandparents' house, so I only got to play with it when I was over there.  Along with an X-Wing fighter, three molds are included, allowing the user to make Darth Vader, R2-D2, Princess Leia, and Luke Skywalker.  There has been some debate over exactly what Darth Vader's weapon is.  It looks like a laser rifle (which Luke also has), but on the box, he is made to hold it like his lightsaber.  I vote for "gun" because, if not, it's the worst lightsaber I've ever seen.

Play-Doh sets usually (and wisely) included a plastic play-mat, and the one for this set is pretty ingenious.  You get a three-quarter, cutaway Death Star to play around in, as well as some space to fly your X-Wing.  Bonus points for including the Dianoga!

The set also includes the famous yellow Play-Doh knife (the other famous tool was the wooden rolling pin, not included in this set).  As I mentioned, the hardest parts to find in completing this set were the vintage cans from the same year.  If you recall, the cans of this era had steel bottoms, and you can hardly find any that aren't rusted to some degree.  I was pretty lucky, but one of the three had a bit of light rust, which I sanded off (NOTE: If you do so, be extremely careful, as the metal is extremely THIN here).  Afterwards, I coated the bottoms of the cans with a rust inhibitor, which is made for treating tools, and which you can buy in any hardware store.  (Another tip, if you go this route, do NOT over-apply, and allow plenty of time to dry, especially if it's cold outside).  After all of this, the cans were ready to be stored safely!

As you can see, I was REALLY excited about this piece, and even had a custom acrylic case made for it! Collectors always make a huge deal about having the original inserts, but the truth is, they can actually do the most damage to your items. When storing old toys like this, the important thing is to make sure that nothing touches the cardboard for long-term storage.  I wrapped each part in acid-free tissue paper (which, if you don't want to order it, can be easily obtained at Container Store).  I didn't mention the original Star Wars booklet, or the small Play-Doh catalog, but these, along with the playmat, were put into comic bags with acid-free boards.  And speaking of the Play-Doh catalog...

If you've never seen this Kenner...product, then you are in for a teat.  (A thousand apologies for that one.  I got carried away.) This was a real thing...somehow...and there was actually a TV commercial for it (see below).  I don't know who thought of this, but it's just weird, no matter how you look at it.  I mean, look at the photo.  The girl is ecstatic, and she's not even getting to do anything.  The boy...is having some sort of moment; I don't even want to know.  

To top it off, it came with powder to make "pretend milk." I have no idea what "pretend milk" is made of, but I assume it was non-toxic, because you know all the little paste-eaters who received this toy were drinking it. Observe in bewilderment:

Introducing THE GODZILLA FILES (Leaping Fox)

 

Happy New Year.  Let's force this to be a better year, right out of the chute.  After just bestowing 22 discs of superhero goodness on you the other day...here are more than 8 of Godzilla perfection!

At the left side of this page is a list of the blog's sub-pages, and the godzilla files is the last one listed.  I'd tell you all the details about this project, but why repeat myself? They are all on the page.  Just click the thing, and enjoy!

This one will probably absolutely be a limited-time offer, so as they say on TV, act now, operators are standing by!