Category: My Favorite Things

No offense Ric Flair, but to me, Charlton Heston will always be “The Man”

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Charlton Heston (1923-2008)

In the world of acting, there are many actors who could claim the title of “The Man” like Marlon Brando, John Wayne, Robert DeNiro, and Clint Eastwood to name a few. For me, that title will always rest in the hands of Charlton Heston. Here is a man who was not only lead actor in some of the greatest blockbusters in the history of cinema (Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments, just to mention a couple) but he was also President of the National Rifle Association. How cool is that?

He was an actor who played historic figures like Moses, John the Baptist, Marc Anthony, El Cid, President Andrew Jackson and Michelangelo. Though, to me, he will always be the actor that I loved from my favorite and classic post-apocalyptic science fiction movies. He brought name recognition to a genre of movies that, to some, seemed childish and beneath an actor of his caliber. I mean, how many actors are specifically known for, “Take your stinkin’ paws off me, you damn, dirty ape!” These were the movies of my childhood that I loved to watch and I aspired to create “tough as nails” characters,  like he often portrayed, as a writer. He even made the circus seem rough and tumble, and if you don’t believe, watch The Greatest Show on Earth and see for yourself.

His credits are too numerous, so I’m focusing on the three best movies of Charlton Heston that I always fall back too. I am talking about, are Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, and Soylent Green. Although Hollywood has tried to redo these classics, they do not compare to the originals. He made these three movies in a six-year span, from 1968 to 1973, although I do have to include a fourth for his brief appearance in the 1970 sequel Beneath the Planet of the Apes.

solyent-greenLet’s start at the end and work our way back. In 1973, Heston starred in Soylent Green with Chuck Conners, Leigh Taylor-Young, and the great Edward G. Robinson. In the year 2022, the people of Earth survive on a ration known as Soylent Green. When an executive at the factory is murdered, Detective Robert Thorn (Heston) investigates the case. This leads to conspiracy, intrigue, and murder along with the shocking discovery that their rations are made from the dead. Like a lot of the other movies of its time, Soylent Green hit upon the fear of the era … overpopulation, starvation, nuclear war, etc. The film is loosely based upon the 1966 science fiction novel Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison. It won the Nebula Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film in 1973. This was also Edward G. Robinson’s last movie so that makes it even better, but it’s Heston that drives this film. His performance turned, what could have been a boring movie, into an edge of your seat crime thriller.

e8292fbcdfbdf32b1b0a492ff65c6566In 1971, Charlton Heston starred in The Omega Man, based on the novel I am Legend by Richard Matheson. If that sounds familiar to you, it is the same name as the 2007 movie I am Legend starring Will Smith. There was also a 1964 adaptation called The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price. In any case, Heston’s version is, to me, the true representation of the novel. It’s about Dr. Robert Neville (Heston) the sole survivor of a plague that killed or turned most of the population into zombie-like creatures. His blood held the key to curing the victims and also vaccinating other survivors. This movie had many firsts, including the first interracial kiss between Heston and co-star Rosalind Cash as Lisa. Another great aspect of the film was the empty streets of Los Angeles. They filmed in downtown LA on a Sunday morning to show the post-apocalyptic, deserted streets. Though the movie only got a 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it is considered a cult classic. Heston delivered one-liners better than Arnold Schwartzenegger. How he talks to himself, plays chess with a bust and haggled with an invisible car dealer are fun to watch.

Planet-of-the-Apes-movie-posterThe last movie is the 1968 classic Planet of the Apes and it’s sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes. As astronaut George Taylor, Heston and his team’s space flight takes them more than 2000 years into the future where apes now rule and humans are mute slaves. Of course, you don’t find this out until the end of the movie when you see the classic image of the Statue of Liberty, rusted and torn apart on the shoreline. This movie hits on a big theme of that era, equality and racism, but this time, it’s the humans being discriminated against. The movie was the first for large-scale make-up effects for all the actors cast as apes. Heston shines in his role as the only talking human in a world of talking apes. His arrogance, vanity, and narcissism comes through in his tough-guy persona as he struggles to survive. He also has to share time with the late great Roddy McDowell, who starred in all five Planet of the Apes movies. In the end, though, this is one of Heston’s most memorable roles.

For a writer like me, you take inspiration wherever you can get it. I get mine from my childhood, spending my Saturday’s in the movie theater or watching it on UHF channels on my TV. These movies inspire us to look at the world differently and the possibilities that await us. I for one do not want to start eating Soylent Green anytime soon.

The best wisdom to navigate through life comes from authors

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145805516-fantasy_20quotes_20philosophy_20game_20of_20thrones_20tv_20series_20arya_20stark_20hbo_201920x1200_20wallpaper_www_wall321_com_73“Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in the face of certain defeat.”  That’s from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. That’s just one constant you can always find throughout literature, words to live by and wisdom to navigate through the rivers of self-doubt. As authors, we represent the struggles of not only our own lives but that of the world events happening around us. Authors want to instill hope, courage, determination and justice in the words we right.

How we deal with death was beautifully written in Games of Thrones by Geroge R. R. Martin. “There is only one God and his name is death. And there is only one thing we say to death … Not today!”

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as great and sudden change.” Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy teaches us that, “It is much better to do good in a way that no one knows anything about it.” Parse that with a quote from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, “Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.”

There are thousands of inspirational and life-changing words throughout literature, from The Bible to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz or even The Shining. Please, don’t misunderstand me, I am not comparing something as powerful as the word of God to a gothic horror classic. What I am trying to say is, there are words to inspire us in all facets of literature.

The inner demons of self-worth from Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island come out, where he wrote, “It is a great misfortune to be alone, my friends; and it must be believed that solitude can quickly destroy reason.”  The same can be said for The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.”

“We need never be ashamed of our tears.” Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

An examination of the human psyche has always been an essential part of literature. From The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde wrote, “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Even Richard Yates in Revolutionary Road looked into the mind’s eye when he wrote, “No one forgets the truth, they just get better at lying.”

How we spend our days is also a theme carried throughout books. P.D. James in The Children of Men wrote, “We can experience nothing but the present moment, live in no other second of time, and to understand this is as close as we can get to eternal life.” Roald Dahl wrote in The Witches, “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you.”

There are hundreds more that many of us know and use as guiding posts through life. What’s your favorite quote from a book? Please let me know, I’d love to read about it and more. I’d like to leave you with a quote from my own “soon to be published” novel, The Outlander War: Book Three of the Forever Avalon Series. I am, by no means, comparing myself to the great authors represented here. I just wanted to show how my own personal inspiration, my family, comes through in my writing. I hope it can inspire you too.

“When you feel the sunlight warming your face, that’s me looking at you. When the wind blows through your hair, that’s me touching you.

“And when the rain falls on your lips, that’s me kissing you!”

Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The Dark Tides is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse. The Outlander War can be viewed at Inkitt and cast your vote to get it published.

A forgotten classic, swept under the rug by Disney

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The_Black_Cauldron_posterDisney is known for its great animated movies, the majority of which take place in the fantasy genre. Classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty and The Sword in the Stone have all the right elements of a great fantasy movie:  wizards and witches, dragons and knights, good versus evil, etc. There is one, however, that was a beautiful adaptation of a classic fantasy novel that Disney decided was too dark and scary and swept it under the rug of forgotten classics. I am, of course, referring to The Black Cauldron.

Released in 1985, The Black Cauldron was adapted from the 1965 Lloyd Alexander novel, the second of the five books from The Chronicles of Pyrdain. The movie was Disney’s 25th animated film. It was the first Disney animated film to receive a PG rating and the first to use computer-generated graphics. It featured the voices of Grant Bardsley, Susan Sheridan, Freddie Jones, Nigel Hawthorne, John Byner, and John Hurt.

The Black Cauldron is set in the mythical land of Prydain during the dark ages. The film centers on the evil Horned King who hopes to secure an ancient magical cauldron that has the power to raise an army of the dead, but to do that, he needs a pig named Hen Wen who has “oracle” powers. He is opposed by a young pig keeper named Taran, the young princess Eilonwy, the bard Fflewddur Fflam, and a wild creature named Gurgi who seek to prevent him from ruling the world by destroying the cauldron.

Horned_KingThe imagery in this movie was quite dark and spooky, especially for a kid’s animated movie. The Horned King looked like a walking corpse. It had all the earmarks of a Disney movie with the boy hero, a beautiful princess, the evil villain and his henchmen, and of course, the comedic sidekick; but even with all that, Disney had problems with the film. After its initial audience screening, the Disney Studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg ordered massive edits and cuts in the film, particularly in the “cauldron born” scene where the Horned King brings his army of the dead to life. There was even scenes where one of the “cauldron born” monsters sliced the neck of one victim and the torso of another. It was very gruesome indeed.

It was scenes, like that, that gave children nightmares from the pre-screening. Though most of it ended on the cutting room floor, it left the film quite jumpy and left a certain lapse, especially in the final act. In the end, after its release, the film only managed to make $21.3 million of its $44 million budget domestically. However, it did manage to score big internationally, especially in Europe.

Rotten Tomatoes called it “ambitious but flawed” while only giving it a 55% rating. Even the author, Lloyd Alexander, had mixed feeling about the movie. He said, “First, I have to say, there is no resemblance between the movie and the book. Having said that, the movie in itself, purely as a movie, I found to be very enjoyable. I had fun watching it. What I would hope is that anyone who sees the movie would certainly enjoy it, but I’d also hope that they’d actually read the book. The book is quite different. It’s a very powerful, very moving story, and I think people would find a lot more depth in the book.”

Disney even misused the film for its initial release to home media. It was finally released on VHS in 1994. This was mostly done due to fans wanting the film released on video along with other Disney classics. It was again released on dvd in 2000 and again in 2010 for a special 25th-anniversary edition. All of this was more “fan-driven” than anything else.

The Black Cauldron may not have the love of some of the other Disney classics, but to those who love the fantasy-genre, it is a forgotten classic that deserves a little more respect. Or as Gurgi would say, “Oh, poor miserable Gurgi deserves fierce smackings and whackings on his poor, tender head. Always left with no munchings and crunchings.”

In medieval fantasy, it’s all about the weapon

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Excalibur_IVYou know the old saying that “the car makes the man” don’t you? Well, in medieval fantasy, I like to think that “the weapon makes the man” or woman in some cases. There have been many legendary weapons that have made their way through the fantasy genre. You know their names:  Stormbringer, Mourneblade, Sting, Mjölner, Frostmourne, and of course, Excalibur. These weapons are as well know as the warriors that wield them.

I too have dabbled in creating mythical weapons. In the Forever Avalon series, Lord Bryan MoonDrake, the Gil-Gamesh of Avalon, wields the Twin Swords of the Dragon Moon, Twilight and Dusk, forged from the shattered remains of Excalibur. There’s also Steinknuse, the hammer/axe of Dwarf Master Dinius of the Gilded Halls. In the upcoming third book of the series, The Outlander War, I will introduce the Edenstar, sword of the first high king of the Elves.

However, today I want to touch on a few particular weapons. These are not as well-known as some of the previously mentioned blades, but they are unique in the realm of fantasy. So, let’s call these my Top 5 Obscure Medieval Fantasy Weapons from movies/television. These are weapons created solely for the cinema and/or TV.

Hawk#5—The Elven Mindsword from Hawk the Slayer (1980)—When it comes to obscure weapons, you don’t have far to look than this British 1980 sword and sorcery romp starring Jack Palance and John Terry as two brothers fighting for the throne after Voltan (Palance) kills their father, With his dying breath, the King gives Hawk (Terry) the last Elven Mindstone and imbued the power in a sword, giving Hawk the power to control the weapon telepathically. That’s about the crux of it. The only saving grace of this movie, besides Palance’s over the top performance, is Patricia Quinn of Rocky Horror fame as the sorceress. It’s not a lot for #5 but it’s the best I can do.

Beastmaster_caber#4—Caber from Beastmaster (1982)—This is one of those great “guilty pleasure” movies because it has everything in it:  A brooding warrior, a damsel in distress, an evil sorcerer and an army of raiders. Marc Singer is Dar, a prince who was taken at birth and branded by a witch, giving him the ability to communicate with animals. When his adopted family is killed, he goes off seeking revenge. He takes with him his father’s sword and caber, a hinged throwing blade. While Dar doesn’t use this a lot in this movie, when he does it’s a pretty cool weapon, similar to the glaive Blade uses (not to be confused with the other glaive coming up shortly).

three_blades#3—Tri-Blade Sword from The Sword and the Sorcerer (1980)—This has to be one of the bulkiest, most unwieldy weapon of my list, but it’s also one of the coolest. What knight wouldn’t want a broadsword with three blades where two of the blades shoot out. That’s what attracted me to this movie, that sword. It is totally impractical, but yet so desirable a weapon. The movie follows the standard plot of most 80’s “sword and sorcery” films of that era where a boy seeks revenge against the evil tyrant who killed his family and stole the throne. The boy named Talon (Lee Horsley) becomes a mercenary and helps a princess stop the same tyrant (played by veteran “evil doer” character actor Richard Lynch). Again, not a great movie except for a memorable weapon that every D&D player tried to create.

krull_1050_591_81_s_c1#2—Glaive from Krull (1983)—Again, a classic 80’s sword and sorcery movie, but this one is mixed with a little science fiction as a star-hopping megalomaniac called the Beast brings his army of Slayers to the planet Krull to destroy and dominate the planet. After and alliance and a wedding between Colwyn (Ken Marshall) and Lyssa (Lysette Anthony) ends with her being captured by the Beast, Colwyn searches for allies and a mythical weapon called the Glaive. The Glaive is a starfish with retractable blades that flies through the air, controlled by Colwyn. Unfortunately, you don’t see it used until the end of the movie, and then it’s only used briefly to rescue the girl and kill the beast, only to be lodged in his chest and hurled into space with him, which to me was the producer’s way of trying to get a sequel. One of the great things about this movie was the early, on-screen performances by a very young Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane.

Before I get to my #1, just a few honorable mentions, including the spear from Dragonslayer, the Klingon Bat’leth from Star Trek, and the Atlantean Sword from Conan the Barbarian.

xena-social1#1—Chakram from Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001)—She got her start in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys but Xena, the Warrior Princess (played by the incredible Lucy Lawless) held her own for six seasons of great television. And by her side, besides Gabrielle (Renee O’Conner) was her trusty chakram. This circular metal blade was deadlier than Tron’s Identity Disc. Xena could incapacitate dozens of enemies at once and the chakram would return to her hand, just like Mjölner. I would never want to challenge her to a pool game because she knows how to redirect her chakram as good as Captain America throwing his shield. It seemed like such a simple weapon yet it really identified Xena’s character. In fantasy, she became as legendary as the weapon associated with her.

I know some of you may have some disagreements with my list or some additions, I’d love for you to comment below. I’d like to keep the discussion going on these amazing weapons forged in fires of fantasy.

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51nd6H6sATL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_SKU-000941753Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The Dark Tides is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

Thank you Harper Lee for inspiring a new generation of writers

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harper-lee_3374329bThis past week, we lost one of the great literary giants, Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird. She was 89 years old. As I was researching her life, I found this one fascinating quote. She said, “I never expected any sort of success with ‘Mockingbird’ … I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement.”

That quote speaks volumes to the life of an independent author. We’re not really looking for that ‘golden ring’ but rather, hoping that someone out there likes your story and gives you the encouragement to write more. This will be an endearing part of her legacy as a writer.

That’s something I found out about Harper Lee that I never knew before. I knew the writer but never knew some of her keen insights to writing. Reading them now, I can see how someone like her could inspire writers to pursue their craft.

She said, “I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career, that before developing his talent, he would be wise to develop a thick hide.” That is so true, especially when you get that first bad review or next to nothing in sales. This is the wisdom from a woman who wrote two books in a career that spanned more than 56 years. It is a testament to her uncanny brilliance.

22BREATHED-superJumboI also found it quite ironic to learn she was a huge fan of Bloom County cartoons by Berkley Breathed. After her passing, Berkley Breathed revealed his occasional correspondence with Harper Lee. It was sheer delight to find out that this legendary author loved Opus as much as I did. His tribute to her this past weekend was one of the best tributes I’ve seen to her this week.

“Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself … It’s a self exploratory operation that is endless. An exorcism of not necessarily his demon, but  of his divine discontent,” Harper Lee said once, and I agree with it whole heartedly. Even as I write today, I see it as a way of putting my heart, my soul, into every word.

Many people prefer to quote her directly from her books, and that’s okay, but to me, that’s only one side of a writer. You want to look at what they write as well as what they say to get the whole picture of the writer.

I want to leave you with one more inspiring quote from Harper Lee. It speaks not only to the writer in us, but the reader as well. She said, “Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”

One line can make any story memorable

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blade-runner_55553“All those moments will be lost in time…like tears in rain. Time to die.”

That’s a line from one of my favorite sci-fi movies, Blade Runner, as said by Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer). The words resonate with me as do many lines from a movie or a book. You may not remember the entire story, but that one line can stick with you forever, like a song stuck in your head.

That’s the great thing about movie quotes. You may not read a book over and over again, but a movie you’ll watch time-and-time again. It’s what drives them into our psyche. Everyone remembers the obvious ones like “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” from Gone with the Wind or “There’s no place like home” from The Wizard of Oz.

But I like those obscure movie quotes. The ones with life lessons packed into a single sentence. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“The dead know only one thing, it is better to be alive.” — Full Metal Jacket (1987)

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it, always.” — Gandhi (1982)

“Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness.” — She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

“A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.” — The Godfather (1972)

“There are many things my father taught me here in this room. He taught me, ‘keep your friends close, but your enemies closer’.” — The Godfather, Part II (1974)

“Anything can be great. I don’t care, bricklaying can be great, if a guy knows — if he knows what he’s doing and why, and he can make it come off.” — The Hustler (1961)

“Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.” — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (2011)

“You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you, you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it. Period.” — The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

“Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don’t.” — Schindler’s List (1993)

“Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.” — V for Vendetta (2005)

“ou must pay for everything in this world, one way and another. There is nothing free except the grace of God.” — True Grit (1969)

“Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” — Dead Poet’s Society (1989)

There is something about movies that inspire us. Now, I’m not saying that one line can make or break a movie or novel. It’s not just one line or some scene, but the combination of writing, acting, and directing that makes it memorable. When I think about Blade Runner, I think about the striking visuals of the future, the gritty performances by Rutger Hauer and Harrison Ford, the haunting music by Vangelis and the incredible story written by author Philip K. Dick.

If you can find that one line and put it into your next book or film, who knows … It may make someone’s favorite list in the future. For now, I’ll toss mine out there for your consideration.

51nd6H6sATL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_“Love has a magic all unto itself. The connection between you and your husband is undeniable and unbreakable. Not even Death could sunder the ties that bind you and the Gil-Gamesh.” — Lady Lyllodoria, Forever Avalon

Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

The holiday season flies by faster than Santa’s sleigh with a tail wind

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merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year-dekstop-HD-wallpaper

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It’s finally here! Christmas is only four days away. It’s strange how time flies so fast around the holiday season. You blink and it’s over. Jus as your finish putting up the Christmas decorations, you barely have time to enjoy them and suddenly, you start to take them down.

I’m not trying to burst the holiday bubble, really I’m not. It’s just every year, as the holidays start earlier (as in October) they seem to go by faster. You look forward to going to holiday parades, Christmas tree lighting celebrations, visiting family and before you know it, POOF! It’s all gone.

By the end of the week, the annual parade of Christmas specials will change into “Year in Review” specials and a look back at 2015. It’s just too abrupt. We have become a society where “we want it fast and we want it now” as we try to cram everything into one holiday, not even enjoying it as we rush off into the next. It’s like when you mother tells you “to slow down and enjoy your dinner” but you just want to get it over with so you can go back to playing video games or watching TV.

Some cultures even take Christmas out farther to January 6 to celebrate the Epiphany, or Three Kings Day, when the three wise men finally arrived at the manger to present gifts to the baby Jesus. There are so many significant differences in cultures and how they celebrate Christmas, you wouldn’t even recognize it in other countries.

In the Far East, like China and Japan, Christmas is not a recognized national holiday. It’s more of a commerce-driven celebration. Sure, they still exchange gifts, hang up decorations and send out Christmas cards, but not for the same reason as us. In most African nations, Christmas is a time when people empty the cities and return to their ancestral homes to be with family. In all of this, you can still see the one common denominator, bringing people together to celebrate family and friends.

So, however you celebrate Christmas this year, I hope you can spend that time with family and friends and enjoy the holiday and the end of 2015. So here’s wishing you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, and a Happy New Year!

 

What Doctor Who teaches us about the magic of Christmas

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Christmas has many traditions that people observe in their own way, from when do we get to open presents to what foods we get to eat. My favorite Christmas tradition is watching the annual Doctor Who special on BBC America.

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“The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe”

It may not seem like a normal tradition to some people, but it is very normal to geeks like me. Doctor Who has been around as long as I’ve been alive. These Christmas specials are special on so many different levels. They are wonderful stories in their own right, setting up the next season of Doctor Who, and they demonstrate the universal truth about the Christmas holiday. “The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe” taught us the importance of family at the holidays. “Last Christmas” taught us to believe in Santa Claus, even with an alien crab stuck to our heads. “Voyage of the Damned” told us why Titanic is a bad name for a ship in any universe.

To fans like me, the Doctor Who Christmas specials are just as important as watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas or It’s a Wonderful Life every year. These are special episodes made to make us laugh, make us cry and tease us for what’s happening next season.

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“The Snowmen”

Sometimes, they even help us say goodbye to the old Doctor and hello to the new one. The past three Doctors have all regenerated during a Christmas special. The 10th Doctor, David Tennant, died in “The End of Time” and regenerated into the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith. Consequently, Matt Smith died in “The Time of the Doctor” and regenerated into the 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi. I think BBC does this to make it easy on the fans as they watch these specials on Christmas with family and friends who share their enthusiasm for Doctor Who.

The other great aspect of the Doctor Who Christmas Specials is the wonderful actors that guest star in these episodes. Kylie Minogue played a waitress on the Titanic starliner in “Voyage of the Damned” Christmas episode. Michael Gambon and opera star Katherine Jenkins were in my favorite Doctor Who Christmas special, “A Christmas Carol.”

Doctor-Who-Last-Christmas

“Last Christmas”

The origins of the Doctor Who Christmas specials date back to 1964. During a seven-part serial “The Daleks Master Plan” premiered one episode on Christmas Day called “The Feast of Steven” which included breaking the “fourth wall” in television, wishing viewers a Happy Christmas. The tradition really started in 2005 with “The Christmas Invasion” as the Doctor (David Tennant) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) helped stop an alien invasion on Christmas Day. From then on, people have enjoyed their Christmas pudding and spiked Eggnog with an extra helping of Doctor Who.

Some people will tune into 24 hours of A Christmas Story, go to church or maybe gather around the piano and sing Christmas carols on Christmas night, but not us diehard Whovians. We will sit and wait and tune into the BBC for our annual tradition of the Doctor, his sonic screwdriver and the TARDIS. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without the Doctor.

 

The forgotten Christmas specials we never get to watch anymore

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At this time of year, the one thing you can always count on is the throng of Christmas specials airing on every channel imaginable, in one language or another, at various times of day to ensure we get to see it  within the holiday season. We find ourselves overwhelmed with 24 hours of A Christmas Story, 25 Days of Christmas on ABC Family, etc.

But through all that, there’s still a few memorable Christmas movies and TV specials that you don’t see anymore. These shows captured the spirit of Christmas but seemed to have fallen out of favor when it comes to TV programmers. I, for one, haven’t forgotten them and thought it would be great to share them with you.

hqdefaultThe Forgotten Toys (1995) — This is one of my favorite animated specials, not only for the unique “storybook” animation, but for the beautiful, timeless Christmas story it represents. Teddy the Bear and Dolly the Ragdoll were thrown out on Christmas morning for better, hi-tech toys. The two go on an adventure through junkyards and old cellars to find a child to love them. The best part of this special is the brilliant performance by the late Bob Hoskins (Roger Rabbit, Hook) as Teddy Bear. His best scene is where he tells the story of how the Teddy Bear was named (after President Theodore Roosevelt) to try to sway some angry dogs. It’s a wonderful Christmas story. My kids wore out the VHS tape we had, but they have yet to make it into a DvD. It’s a shame to lose this holiday classic.

TheShopAroundTheCornerPoster-01The Shop Around the Corner (1940) — You think you know this one but you probably don’t. The Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan film You’ve Got Mail was based on this original classic with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. Her store was called The Shop Around the Corner as a nod to the original. The premise is still the same, a man and a woman correspond and fall in love, not realizing its the person right next to them who they loathe and despise. The original takes place in Budapest at Christmas time. Though it’s not a strict holiday film, it has that “Frank Capra” holiday “vibe” to it like It’s a Wonderful Life. One of the best scenes for me is the restaurant scene where he finds out she’s the one he’s been corresponding with. I swear the scene is virtually identical to the one in You’ve Got Mail. It’s funny, warm-hearted, and the chemistry between Jimmy Stewart and Maragret Sullavan is fun to watch.

picture31A Muppet Family Christmas (1987) — This is all the classic Muppet franchises from the beginning brought together in one Christmas special. We’re talking The Muppet Show, Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock. It involved Fozzy the Bear bringing all his friends to his mother’s house in the country to celebrate Christmas, unaware she was planning Christmas in Hawaii. Soon the Sesame Street gang shows up, with the Swedish Chef trying to cook Big Bird for Christmas dinner, and Kermit and Robin finding their way underground to Fraggle Rock. It even has a brief appearance of a home movie of the Muppets as babies. It’s one of those Christmas specials that’ll have the music stuck in your head for months after Christmas. My wife can’t listen to the song “We need a little Christmas now” without thinking of the Muppets.

hqdefault (1)Bedtime for Sniffles (1940) & Peace on Earth (1939) — I remember watching these as a child and then watching them again with my children. This was a time when cartoons was made to makes us laugh and teach us powerful messages, not gross us out or shock us like the cartoons of today. Bedtime for Sniffles is a classic Looney Toons cartoon featuring the adorable Sniffles the Mouse. Sniffles wants to stay up late to see Santa and does everything he can to try to stay awake. This is one determined mouse, drinking a pot of black coffee wait for Santa. It’s cute adorable and filled with the holiday spirit you generally associate 150-004singwith cartoons from this era. Peace on Earth is another classic yet rarely seen holiday cartoon, made in the hopes for peace after the horrors of World War I reigned across Europe. Even as Hitler rose to power and the prelude to World War II, there was still hope for peace. It’s amazing to see the instruments of war used as houses and other items by the animals in this cartoon.

ebbie-06Ebbie (1995) — There have been many versions of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, but this one is one of my favorites. It features popular TV soap star Susan Lucci as Elizabeth Scrooge, or Ebbie. It uses a popular local department store as the venue for this Christmas story, a workaholic CEO who only sees the bottom line at Christmas. I do love how the ghosts take on the form of her employees, showing her through her tortured life. Marley is especially tragic, but acting in a very business-like way, setting up her visits by the ghosts as appointments. She even offered to take them all at once on a conference call. It has all the wonderful, heart-warming messages found within the Dickens classic. It is definitely one to watch!

Well, these are my lost but not forgotten holiday classics, what’s some of yours? Let me know in the comment section about your favorite but forgotten holiday hits!Until then, Merry Christmas!

It’s Christmas time again, so let’s be politically incorrect for a change!

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My Christmas tree is already up!

Let me start out by saying that I try not to be political in my blogs. In today’s society, espousing one’s political views can cause you world’s of hurt from the “trolls” whose only joy is to write terrible things about you from one end of the net to the other. That being said, I tend to be very politically incorrect when it comes to Christmas.

What started out as a reason to party and let loose centuries ago, with pagan sensibilities mind you, has become a time of family, celebration, and religious worship. It’s also caused many people to get a stick up their ass if you even say “Merry Christmas” to them.

What is wrong with Merry Christmas? All you’re doing is wishing someone a glad tidings at this festive time of year. It’s not like you’re flipping them the bird, yet some people want to stop us from saying Merry Christmas “in case” it offends someone. Anything I might say could offend anyone at any given time. That’s why we have freedom of speech in this country. Saying Merry Christmas to a perfect stranger is no different than wishing them a good morning/afternoon/evening; but if you’re one of those people who gets offended by it, you’re what’s wrong with society today, not me.

We need to put the fun back into the holidays and take out the stress. I love movies like “The Christmas Story” and “The Walton’s Homecoming Special” because they speak of a simpler time when we took the time for family, community, church and holiday spirit. It was about Christian, Jew, Agnostic or atheist. It was about the joy of Christmas.

I will admit, I do hate it how the holidays are slammed one into the other. The day after Halloween, every store is already decorated for Christmas. You don’t even get a chance to breathe. I saw a Christmas commercial for Best Buy on Halloween night. It was ridiculous.

I learned an interesting tidbit this year. President Franklin D. Roosevelt actually wanted Thanksgiving to fall the 3rd Thursday in November, instead of the 4th, to give retailers the extra week of holiday shopping. It’s strange how that isn’t necessary today because we’re shopping for Christmas from 1 November to 24 December with online shopping and aggressive retailers. Even “Black Friday” isn’t a thing anymore because some stores open on Thanksgiving night.

I understand this better than most because I live with a wonderful woman who eats, lives and breathes Christmas 24/7, 365 days a year. My lovely wife, Georgiene, listens to Christmas music, watches Christmas movies and keeps that joy of Christmas alive all year round. Though I sometimes find it annoying in the middle of Summer, it has given me a better appreciation for the holiday.

So, as we march into the last 25 days of Christmas, I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanza! And for the rest of you trolls out there, Bah Humbug!