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Post by Shonokin on May 15, 2006 9:36:38 GMT -8
I never read Doc Savage as a kid, but I'm now getting into it. It's a great mix of quitessant hard-boiled pulp, action-adventure and almost serial like installments of cliffhangers throughout each book. They're super easy to read and I'd think they were written for young adults if it wasn't for some of the more gruesome violence and language at times.
Conde Nast seems to be exerting their copyrights (like legal action against blackmask.com to remove Savage ebooks) which bolsters the rumor of a new movie in the works. Hopefully better than the George Pal one and not starring the Governator.
Great stuff!
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Post by RoadWarriorYajuta on May 15, 2006 16:24:57 GMT -8
It has been rumored for awhile that The Rock has been mentioned for the role in a new Doc movie. He certainly has the complexion.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on May 15, 2006 17:41:37 GMT -8
and shouldn't have a problem wearing a hairpiece for Doc's golden blond locks!
i'm hoping that it also means the books are going to be released again, in some omnibus form.
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Post by Shonokin on May 16, 2006 8:03:15 GMT -8
Blackmask has been publishing reprints of the original pulps (sold through blackmask.com, adventurehouse.com and even amazon), using the original text and illustrations. Most of them are two novels in one but usually run around $15. Which is why Conde Nast is taking blackmask to court and the URL is down right now. I've just been reading txt files. Also been listening to a radio drama created in the late 80s or early 90s based on two of the books. It's pretty nicely done. The Rock would be an interesting choice since he has the build AND is also athletic. Since bodybuilding and being an athlete aren't necessarily synonymous, there's a lot of muscly guys who wouldn't pass muster, like Schwarzenegger. Another interesting choice might be Neal McDonough who was in Band of Brothers.
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Post by Shonokin on May 19, 2006 10:06:56 GMT -8
Reading the Doc Savage stuff has now gotten me into G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES. Very interesting and wacky stuff. WWI Spad (biplane) fighter G-8 battles all of the Kaisers evil, supernatural experiments... including giant bats and spiders, de-thawed Vikings, Martians, zombies, giant air squids, werewolves, vampire- and panther-man fighter squadrons and even Satan himself. The Kaiser was into some heavy sh*t!
If a picture says a 1000 words, then you'll find out all you need to know about G-8 from this cover gallery with all 110 book covers. http://bill_mann.home.att.net/g8covers.htm
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Post by Xenorama ™ on May 19, 2006 16:01:06 GMT -8
i have three of the G-8 stories, those are pretty fun. have you read any Operator 5? that's some far out stuff as well.
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Post by Shonokin on May 20, 2006 6:11:00 GMT -8
Haven't read Operator 5 yet, but give me time and I'll probably wind up getting to it.
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Post by Shonokin on Jun 14, 2006 11:39:38 GMT -8
I wish I could read faster. Though I don't believe in that "speed reading" method. I guess I read slowly because i like to savor everything the author has to say rather than just get a general gist of the idea. Anyway, in my ever increasing stack of books to read I have two new additions: LESTER DENT'S ZEPPELIN TALESand THE CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERILThe first is a new collection of Lester Dent's pre Doc Savage tales dealing with piracy and various other adventure type things, all having to do with Zeppelins. The second is a new book about Lester Dent (writer of Doc Savage) and Walter Gibson (writer of The Shadow) in a "real life" adventure, tracking down the possibly supernatural murderer of H. P. Lovecraft. I was going to pass on this book but it has been getting really good reviews.
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Post by Shonokin on Aug 17, 2006 14:20:16 GMT -8
Now I'm going to read "The Spider". Never read one of those because I always thought of it as a "The Shadow" knockoff, which it is and was intented that way. But I have since decided to give em a chance since they seem to be over the top crazy gonzo pulps that make Doc and the Shadow and maybe even G8 look about as tame as The Sound of Music or something.
One thing leads to another.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Aug 17, 2006 22:53:28 GMT -8
Dan, i'd like to send you a copy of the first Spider serial, which is much better than the lone Spider pulp i've read. let me know if you would like it.
sure wish that Doc had been turned into a serial at one point- that would have been SO great, if it was a Republic, that is!
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Post by Shonokin on Aug 18, 2006 11:39:20 GMT -8
Thanks David for the offer. I wish I'd seen this earlier but hey, it's too late. I got it offa ebay for $10 yesterday.
From reading the thread on it at the movie serial message board it sounds like it is a really good serial, esp for being a Columbia and being directed by Horne.
Horne's Shadow was OK but the jokes about the repetitive cliffhangers are definately true (80% of chapters end with the Shadow getting covered in an pile of roof timbers and then the next chapter start with him just getting up and dusting off from it).
I saw that you were put off on The Spider pulps from the get go with all the batman bashing in the forward. Which version did you have? The Carrol & Graf books?
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Aug 18, 2006 21:44:26 GMT -8
that's cool. i hope you got the Spider DVD from this seller- BRUCE90078 who has excellent stuff, well done chapters and are the best i've seen out there. let me know if you'd like any other stuff, i have tons of serials (see the serial poll...).
i have Bold Venture book of The Spider #50, something about firebugs. and yeah, all the superhero bashing turned me off, then the boring story didn't even live up to the hype. but i should try reading it again, i think.
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Post by Shonokin on Aug 19, 2006 8:19:20 GMT -8
I got it from a guy that sells all of his serials at a buy it now of $10 with shipping included. Though his stuff only has the default blue button type menus the price is right and he's actually got some pretty rare stuff like Phantom of the Air. I was never slightly interested in The Spider until I read this article by Will Murray called STOP ME FROM READING ANOTHER SPIDER! in which he talks about how gonzo and non-sensical the writing is. So I thought I ought to give it a try. It's a gamble, since I found G8 to be a little too Scooby Doo for me. When you already know some cool monster of the month is going to be some man-made doohicky it kinda takes the suspense out of it. So The Spider seems more interesting as it has the G8 wacky action but maybe without the letdown of the promise of monsters that are just men, since we already know he's fighting men. Though some of the villains seem pretty cool, like the giant robot guys in Satan's Murder Machines. It's amazing how many times "Satan" is in the title of pulps. Anyway... getting ready for more pulp action!
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Aug 19, 2006 22:20:46 GMT -8
that's a great article. i think i'll re-read the Spider book i have that way, perhaps it will be better.
that seller has a lot of good stuff- i wonder if it's on one disc or two- i'll be interested in hearing about the quality from you.
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Post by Shonokin on Aug 20, 2006 7:00:54 GMT -8
I've gotten a couple of things from him, like Phantom of the Air and Buck Rogers, and they so far have all been two discs. But I think the quality isn't very relative to the number of discs since these aren't cleaned up or restored prints. They aren't horrible quality but look like they are probably taken from some type of taped source.
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Post by Shonokin on Aug 22, 2006 14:15:38 GMT -8
Well, The Spider's Web turns out to be one disc and compressed down to use only about 3 gigs for the whole 15 eps and it shows. Ouch! Oh well, I guess ya really get what ya pay for.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Aug 23, 2006 7:48:14 GMT -8
i have mine on two- if you want a copy, let me know. it's quite good, i must say, worth having in the collection (unlike say, THE CLUTCHING HAND, or so i've been told). you couldn't even fit the entire serial onto a DL disc, since it's 15 chapters.
anyway, hope you enjoy it!
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Post by Shonokin on Aug 24, 2006 11:46:44 GMT -8
If you don't mind David, I think I'll take you up on your offer. The quality of this DVD and the print it was made from is incredibly bad. About 20% of the scenes have no picture because it's either blown out to all white or so dark as to be black. And the audio is just about inaudible with murky noise, etc.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Aug 26, 2006 18:14:42 GMT -8
no sweat, PM me or e-mail me (david@xenorama.com) your address and i'll get 'em in the mail sometime soon. ima try to get the second one soon also. that darn Gargoyle gang!
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