Monsters of the Day #3502

Hey, everyone. Sorry about dipping out the last couple of days. I had a bunch of family in town and we’ve been hanging out. Back to work today, though.

The Beetle, the inherently scary-sounding animal name.

Watch Party this Friday. The 20th T-Fest will be the weekend after this, in Rockwall TX per usual.

  • KeithB

    The new AI fueled design of the new-new Beetle from VW, had some bugs to work out.

  • Man don't you just hate it when you're chilling in a black void and someone comes up and bugs you?

  • Beckoning Chasm

    Tonight's blue-ray series was the Warner Archive release of "The Herculoids." I confess to being of a great age; nearer to death am I, than to the golden era of my youth. So, yeah, I loved this show as a kid. If memory serves, it was shows like this with their wanton destruction that led to a bunch of evil aliens–I mean, concerned parents–to insist that Saturday morning cartoons be…less cool. Less cool to a very depressing degree.

    This gave us "Scooby Doo." Full disclosure: I have never liked Scooby Doo, even when it was federally mandated that kids had to like Scooby Doo. (One Space Goof doth not a Summer make.)

    Anyway, for those who never saw the series, it was about a Tarzan-like family who lived on an alien planet with a rock ape, a laser dragon, a ten-legged rhino and two blobs as their friends. Their planet was Grand Central Station for invading aliens, so they got a lot of practice using their super-powers. The humans didn't have powers, but they did have slingshots. And Zandor, the patriarch, could bounce between vines like a microscopic guitarist in a sequence that never lost its silliness.

    What this show had was a lot of very imaginative design work. It also had the best music and sound effects ever. Storywise, it was basically the same story over and over–some aliens attack, and the Herculoids destroy them. Heck, one episode was even called "Defeat of Ogron"! Uh, spoiler alert, guys!

    Image is a bit too perfect for 1960's animation, though it does mean you can see the really cool designs of all the monsters. The sound is great. You can really appreciate how much Mike Road put into this, as he voices not only Zandor, but Igoo, Tundro and Zok. Igoo sounds like like someone with really bad indegestion, but how can you not love a rock ape? (Though my faves were always Gloop and Gleep.)

    This is not the Valhalla of your youth, and it suffers from a sameness of writing, but it still has a bunch of coolness. An artifact, if you will.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I saw The Herculoids in reruns, and they were awesome. The monsters were great.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Ted Kord, what are you doing?!?

  • 🐻 bgbear_rnh

    ticks me off

  • Ken_Begg

    Yes, fellow big Herculoids fan. I LOVE Igoo, love Gleep and Gloop (although I like their designs better when they don't have mouths), really like Thundro, and don't have much use for Zok, although that's typical of my apparently genetic boredom with dragons. Plus the screeching.