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The 83rd Annual Academy Awards (2011)

I might be crucified for my beliefs here

The only times I tune into the Oscars is to find out who wins the acting awards and who made and who didn't make the In Memoriam tribute.

I suppose the reason why some acting luminaries are omitted is that too much emphasis is laid on to the deceased, who because of their occupations (screen writers, hairdressers, wardrobe, cinematography, and so forth) must be considered relevant, even though their screen time (aside from the credits at the beginning and/or ending of the film)are, to me, at least, unimportant. For example, I have barely heard of Theoni V. Aldredge, aside from the fact he created the costumes for the "Ghostbusters" movies.

The Oscars are all about the movie industry - the actors, the composers, the directors, that is all I care about. John Barry, Blake Edwards and the other featured in the directing/music category deserve to be remembered.

Then we come to the stars themselves: the overlooked:

Peter Graves - Leslie Nielsen (a co-star of his in the Airplane movies) was remembered, yet he was not. Betty Garrett Corey Haim Lisa Blount Kenneth Mars Janet MacLachlan Rue McClanahan George DiCenzo James Gammon Michele Nicastro and others supposedly too nondescript to rate an honour.

There may be others, lost and eventually forgotten, but the contributions of most of these stars of the stage, the screen and TV are, perhaps, of more importance than those whose connections to the movie-making medium are, tangential, to say the least.

The Adventures of Gulliver (1968)

Perhaps cartoons get better with age

I still remember this cartoon as being as enjoyable as it was when I was much, much younger. Sure the characters were cutesy (poor Flirtacia mooning for the unattainable Gary) and the giant Gulliver was a "hunk" (well, as good-looking a guy as a kid like me could appreciate at the time), Captain Leech was very much in the hissable baddie mode.

The stories were quite good - and the action music scoring was very dramatic for a production made (ohmigod) 40 years ago. Certainly a long way from when Hanna Barbera started with characters like Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss and so on. In fact the period between 1966-1968 was a good time for cartoons. Sure, to some they might be hokey, but compared to the silly violence-riddled junk watched by kids these days, a little toning down on the blood-and guts wouldn't hurt.

The good old days - who could ask for anything more?

Star Trek: The Lights of Zetar (1969)

I liked this episode

*May contain "spoilers" - so beware...*

Re-using one of my favourite Alexander Courage music pieces (first used in "Where No Man Has Gone", this episode highlights the theme of alien possession, as a young woman called Mira Romaine (Jan Shutan) is used by aliens called Zetars. Although their purpose is somewhat vague, their arrival via a "psychic storm cloud" heralds a bizarre takeover and some interesting side-effects. When the ship approaches Memory Alpha, Mira Romaine starts having visions of impending danger, and the landing party go down to investigate....

Once on Alpha's surface, the backlash of the Zetar arrival is seen. One female technician starts to talk in a slow frog-like garble, then she undergoes a weird horrifying convulsive transformation...and then dies.

Mira is beamed down, but is unable to make head or tail out of what Kirk and the others had witnessed - until she senses that the Zetarians are coming back (apparently sensing their job had not finished 'coz more survivors of their attack have been pinpointed).

Kirk realises the only way to rid Mira of her condition is to subject her to decompression. Scotty, who had taken a serious "fancy" to the "lassie" (apparently having gotten over Lt. Carolyn Palamas "Who Mourns For Adonais" in a big hurry) strongly and uncategorically objects - until he is forced to give in to Kirk's orders.

Mira decompresses, the aliens flee their "host" and the episode concludes with Romaine deciding to stay behind on Memory Alpha to help "clean up" the mess left by the cloud-beings.

Scotty is again left, with a broken heart...poor dude. This was obviously the last hurrah romantically for the engineer since no other lassie has captured his attention away from his "bairns" since...

The viewer has to wonder what the Zetars were, what their intentions were - whether good or for evil - is now left for a new Star Trek series to take on, along with any other dangling plot-thread the original series leaves hanging...

8 out of 10 - only for the afore-mentioned groovy Courage "alien takeover" sequences

Come On, Get Happy: The Partridge Family Story (1999)

Why wasn't "Danny" played by another actor?

Shawn ("Andrew" - Desperate Housewives) Pyfrom played the obnoxious Danny Partridge to the hilt. However, my main gripe is that Pyfrom seemed to be playing the part throughout the movie. Danny would have hit puberty faster than when Keith's hair started getting longer. In other words, an older actor should have played Danny as he hit his teen years.

Something else to put in the goofs/anachronisms category: In the scene in the hotel where Danny and Betty Bonaduce have their talk - Danny's hair is styled differently (as it was in the final season). Yet, in the scenes where the cast is told that that show had been axed, Danny's hair reverts to the style he wears for the vast majority of the TV movie. This shows a lack of consistency on the part of the script and research teams. If anybody else had noticed this, I thought I'd mention it for clarity's sake.

Shazzan (1967)

Dexter and Waldo must have enjoyed working together

I am (still) a big fan of the sixties Hanna-Barbera super-hero cycle which started in 1966 and ended ignominiously with the "Super Friends" around 1973. However, Shazzan was among the best of them. It had action, excitement, imaginative music scoring (also incorporated into 1968's "Arabian Knights" cartoon and i imagine the music originator must have been in overdrive by the sheer dramatics he was able to instill within the action sequences and final showdown between the jolly brown giant and his motley crew of adversaries.

But i digress....it seems that Jerry Dexter and Janet Waldo had worked together on other cartoon shows for H-B and for Filmation (notably "Josie and the Pussycats")so their chemistry must have worked in well.

Alas, there will never be anything to top the nostalgic 60's. Today's generation of kids are being swamped with rock-band screeching and that, is not what i would like to remember from the team of Hanna-Barbera.

• Brian T.

The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (1968)

Did The Banana Splits ever produce a best of CD?

Never mind the characters, or the animation....it was the songs that stayed in the memory even as sketchy as mine. Someone mentioned a song called 'Wait Til Tomorrow' and i thought it was the best of the bunch (no pun indeed LOL). Who sang it - and does he still perform to the present day? If he does, he must be in his early fifties by now.

Okay, i changed my mind - loved the cartoons (Arabian Knights were like Shazzan, but what the heck? the action sequences were cool!) Danger Island kinda grated on me because the scripting was so bad, but the location scenes on the island were above par and heaps better than the similarly-named "Mystery Island" live-action show years later.

• Brian T.

The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971)

Continuity Glitch

How come if Pebbles was born in 1963 (airdate time), can she be a teenager by 1971 (airdate time). Chronologically, she would have to be at least 8 years old, if looked at it age-wise. Not even 8 year old had curves (despite the trend in America for underage beauty queen pageants).

H-B execs must have picked it up eventually, but by the time Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm did mature, the continuity was out-of-whack by showing later Flintstones shows with the kids looking different than they were in '71.

I don't know when the marriage of P and B-B was shown, but hopefully the time lines were put back on the correct track.

Sorry to be picky, but i guess the kids (who watch the cartoons)wouldn't pick up on the continuity errors.

Brian T.

Artists and Models (1955)

Did Anne Bancroft have a cameo role?

A crazy film for devotees of the super-hero comic book. Shirley MacLaine was both wacky and alluring as Bessie, who is the inspiration of the Bat-Lady, a character of the comic book which Dorothy Malone draws(?) Jerry is his usual self, while Dean Martin turns up a one-note performance as the typecast Lothario who tries to romance Dorothy who at first would have nothing to do with him. Eva Gabor(before Green Acres), cast as the seductress who tries to worm spy secrets out of Jerry is excellent.

I remember seeing the movie years ago and there was a scene where Jerry paints faces and puts little dresses on the knees of a young blonde actress in one scene. The actress bared a slight resemblance to Anne Bancroft. Is this correct?

Brian T

Home and Away (1988)

Whatever happened to Lynn?

I was reading the trivia note at the bottom of the listings and I was wondering whatever happened to Lynn? She never came back to Summer Bay to attend any of her foster sibling's weddings and no one has ever referred to her since. What is the actress (Helena Bozich) doing now? Is she still in the acting biz?

Indeed, why haven't any past characters ever returned? Summer Bay certainly doesn't appear to be short on excitement. Even on the American soaps, some character who hadn't been on screen for years tended to be brought back when the storyline called for it.

The only instance of this that comes to mind is Paul Robinson from "Neighbours".

Brian T.

View from the Top (2003)

Is this a retro comedy?

I personally thought View From The Top was a great movie. However, I was not quite sure which decade it was set in because of the big bouffant hairdos and the mini-skirts. Gwyneth Paltrow did okay as Donna, the character who had character enough to succeed even in adversity. Kelly Preston, although had a smaller role than Paltrow and Christina Applegate, was sympathetic enough to warrant more air time than she actually got.

Christina Applegate did well as Donna's sidekick and her character's strengths as well as weaknesses were portrayed quite brilliantly. Mark Ruffalo as the love interest was also well cast, and was believably sexy enough to appeal no doubt to the female viewers to whom this movie was targeted at. Candice Bergen was a joy as the figurehead of Royalty Airlines and confidante to Gwyneth Paltrow and all her scenes were clever and funny.

Mike Myers as the test giver was fair, but unpredictable. Perhaps Jim Carrey could have portrayed the character with his usual zaniness, but to each his own.

The movie stood alone and like other comedies does not need a follow-up.

Brian T

Josie and the Pussycats (1970)

Didn't JATP Meet Scooby-Doo once?

With all the talk about comparing Josie's bunch with that of Scooby-Doo, I seem to vaguely remember that both groups were featured in an episode of the New Scooby-Doo Movies back in 1973. Casey Kasem must have needed a rest after supplying dialog for both Shaggy and Alexander, nervous breakdowns and all...at one point they even both sounded alike!!!! Furthermore with an expanded cast of eleven teens plus the animal mascots, it must have been tough trying to get the personalities straight - particularly with Alexandra as the sarcastic sounding-board. Then again, the animation would have suffered with so many people to keep track of, including the supporting cast of ghosts and ghouls.

Star Trek (1966)

Janice Rand had the wildest hairdo in Trek history

I'm a huge hair fan (no pun intended) of Star Trek, particularly where women are concerned. If anybody wanted to know which hairstyle sticks to memory every time I tune in to see the show, think back to when Janice Rand was on the show...her 'do ranks as the most bizarre and headache inducing....most of it had to be hair extensions or a wig covering her actual hair. Too bad she only lasted 15 episodes before she was banished into Trek limbo. She never got a mention after 'Balance of Terror', even though she was supposed to be an integral part of the crew. I'm surprised she resurfaced in ST:TMP as a transporter chief without explanation whatsoever.