During the Christmas and New Year celebrations I've caught the odd horror and ghost story where I could, in between the sherries and advocaats.
These offerings were inspired by the Christmas edition of the Radio Times, which we buy every December and have done for years, a true tradition.
The ghost stories of the great Victorian spook master M.R. James were high on my list of TV and radio likes.
I've already a full collection of the old BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas on DVD but any chance to see them again is always welcome, as well as the modern radio renditions by MR James' superfan Mark Gatiss.
Stories I saw and heard were The Ice House, The Stalls of Barchester, the Rats, A Warning to the Curious, The Mezzotint and Casting the Runes, the inspiration for the 1950's shocker Night of the Demon.
I missed Whistle and I'll come to You, the John Hurt version; Number 13 and The Ash Tree.
Other grim pickings I caught were Frankenstein, Vincent Price's Fish, a radio play set in Australia, the film 13 Ghosts, the William Castle black and white original and the movie Pulse.
Pulse is an interesting flick from 1984 starring Cliff de Young, who you may recall as Leitman in FX: Murder By Illusion. Pulse is about a malevolent electricity plaguing a family home, transforming household gadgets into lethal things such as a boiling shower and a raging heater. It reminded me of the movie Poltergeist with its constant deadly onslaughts into a normal American nuclear family.
Initially I mistook Pulse for another old eco-horror, Impulse, a 1984 US flick about the effects of a toxic waste leak on a small town's residents. It starred Tim Matheson, who I know as Otter from National Lampoons Animal House. You may know his voice as that of Johnny Quest in the 1960's cartoon.
Alistair Sim's Scrooge passed me by this Christmas too, which I can hopefully put right this week.
What have you watched this holiday readers?
Another look at the Sixteen 12 Captain Alan Carter action figure toy set that comes with it’s own Alpha Moonbuggy.
For those who aren’t aware, the deluxe toy set comprises of a fully articulated Capt. Carter action figure, with removable helmet, and hinged visor. (I recommend putting it in warm water prior to posing it to ease any stiff joints,)
One thing that is always open to debate with action figures is how close the facial likeness is to the actual character. I reckon from certain angles the figure does look like Alan Carter, however, it’s fair to say others might well disagree.
The figure comes with a chest and backpack, which fits into recesses in the figure’s torso, so it’s not designed to pose without them. There’s a tube which attaches from the backpack to the helmet. This does need some very careful bending into shape, and in my case, some slight reaming out of the connecting holes. But once done generally stays in place.
There’s a detailed Commlock, which I should mention that on close inspection is actually Comr. Koenig’s. This attaches to a slot on the figure’s belt. There’s also a nicely detailed stun gun.
The set comes with a separate display stand for the figure, with two different backdrop displays.
The box also contains a larger fold out backdrop of a close up of some Alpha Moonbase buildings. This can be used for displaying the figure with the buggy.
The Moonbuggy looks fine with rolling wheels, and plenty of detail. I’ve read in the past that there is some debate as to whether the scale is quite right. Personally, I reckon it could be slightly bigger, however the size could be due to simply making it easier to fit the figure easier into the buggy.
The control levers in the buggy are flexible enough to allow the figures hands to bend and hold them convincingly.
For anyone who’s interested, it’s worth mentioning that Sixteen 12 are currently offering 10% off their remaining stock, bringing the price down from £139.99 to £125.99 + shipping.
I've begun cleaning up the die-casts my friend Paul V kindly sent me as a Christmas gift.
The first fab four needed a simple polish.
2012 green Dodge, 1982 red Classic Cobra, blue Porsche Turbo [undated] and a cream Matchbox Jaguar XK120.
After.
The rest of the group, three precious redlines, need metallic paint to do them justice, so I've ordered some new metallic paint pens.
Watch this hot space!
I've already covered some of the metal badges that featured Captain Scarlet and Joe 90 that were given free in Sugar Smacks cereal boxes. Now here we have the badges that were available from Lone Star at the time.
https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2022/07/a-look-at-sugar-smacks-badges-1.html
The Captain Scarlet badge would have come attached to small card, which I have reproduced.
I believe the two different Joe 90 badges would have been simply attached to a large shop display card containing twelve examples, so I've cheated with mine and created my own individual card for each Joe 90 badge.
