MOVIES & TV | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture

Sep17

SUPER-CHIMP! Dig the 13 Grooviest PLANET OF THE APES Trading Cards

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Sep 17, 2020

SUPER-CHIMP! Dig the 13 Grooviest PLANET OF THE APES Trading Cards

Apes on the go for the late Roddy McDowall’s birthday! — UPDATED 9/17/20: The late Roddy McDowall — aka Cornelius aka Caesar aka Galen — was born 92 years ago! Perfect time to re-present this piece from 2017’s APES WEEK! GO APE! — Dan — Before the advent of home video, it was virtually impossible to check out your favorite movies and TV shows at will. One particularly analog substitute was to collect trading cards. It wasn’t the same as watching but at least you could pore over full-color photos of, say, Star Trek (click here) or Star Wars anytime and anyplace (assuming your teacher wasn’t looking). I was into Planet of the Apes cards from Topps. I was too young to ever encounter the cards from the original movie but I was the perfect age for the cards produced from the TV show (which used the same design). I’d take my Galen and Urko and the rest, wrap a rubber band around them, and voila, I had a pocketful of Apes I could take anywhere. My cards are long gone, but thanks to Abrams ComicArts, I now have the complete runs not just of the TV set but of the movie set too — in a fashion. Timed to the release of War for the Planet of the Apes, the publishing house has put together another of its lovely hardcovers that reprints retro card sets: The nearly 500-page book, which lists for $24.95, features images of every POTA card produced by Topps — fronts and backs — covering the 1968 original film, the 1974 show on CBS and, yes, the Tim Burton reboot. The cover mimics the design and feel of the original wax-paper wrappers and you even get an exclusive set of four cards representing the new film series. Included are photos of old boxes and other ephemera, as well as a terrific historical essay by Gary Gerani, who has edited hundreds of Topps cards series. Each card image is accompanied by some helpful info or commentary. So in the spirit of APES WEEK, I dove in and picked my favorite 13 cards. They’re about evenly split between the film and TV show because I had to include some of the more memorable ones from that stack I used to keep in my pocket when I was...

Sep14

13 GREAT THINGS About Filmation’s 1968 BATMAN Cartoon

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Sep 14, 2020

13 GREAT THINGS About Filmation’s 1968 BATMAN Cartoon

A groovy anniversary celebration… — UPDATED 9/14/20: Filmation’s 1968 Batman series debuted 52 years ago! Perfect time to re-present this 2018 piece celebrating the show’s 50th anniversary. Enjoy. — Dan — I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the Filmation Batman cartoon over the last couple years. It was an indelible part of my childhood and I’ve really enjoyed exploring it in depth, especially on The Batcave Podcast, where host John S. Drew and I have been reviewing every episode. (Click here.) And now we’re at the show’s 50th anniversary. The series debuted Sept. 14, 1968, as part of The Batman/Superman Hour but I was much too young to watch it when it was in first run Saturday mornings on CBS. Instead, I discovered it a few years later in syndication on Channel 5 in New York. Since then, it’s etched itself in my Bat-psyche, an essential part of my formative years as a fan, alongside Batman ’66, Megos, the 1973 Ideal Batman playset and, of course, comic books. If you’d like to check out all of our Filmation Batman coverage – and why wouldn’t you – click here. You’ll find not only a series of features and tributes, you’ll find the links to all The Batcave Podcast episodes on the series. You’ll also find 13 QUICK THOUGHTS: The Kitschy Kick of FILMATION BATMAN, which takes a broad look at what made the show tick. (Click here to jump right to it. Go ahead. We’ll wait.) But for the anniversary, I wanted to hone in on the specifics, the elements that make an often silly cartoon resonate 50 years later. So dig these 13 GREAT THINGS ABOUT THE 1968 BATMAN CARTOON: — 1. Olan Soule as Batman. Adam West may be the era’s definitive screen Batman, but Olan Soule provided him with the perfect voice — so much so that he was later hired by competing studio Hanna-Barbera for Scooby-Doo and Super Friends. Soule’s Batman — and Bruce — was authoritative and confident, the ideal combination for a Silver Age interpretation. I’d even argue that his animated Batman voice was superior to West’s later Filmation and Super Friends appearances. — 2. The Theme. Filmation’s superhero cartoons all had cool music but John Garth’s kinetic opening theme – complete with strobing colors and Knight’s bombastic narration – is next level...

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