SPACE: 1999 - 'Space Brain' / Season 1 Episode 21 - 1976

Here we go with another week at The Dungeon. This time we'll take a look at this episode from that great TV series back in the day. The story goes... Alien gyphs appear on all of Alpha's screens, so, Commander Koenig sends an Eagle to investigate. The Eagle is lost and the pilot's mind is taken over by a huge alien Space Brain, using him as a channel to make the Alphans do its bidding.

When an Eagle goes out to investigate a disturbance near their Moon Base, it encounters a giant Space Brain! Then, the Eagle is covered by some weird foam and crashes back on the Moon Base.

Professor Bergman scans a strange fragment found at the crash site for clues as to what it is.

Here's the pilot whose mind has been taken over by the Brain, he ends up causing lots of problems until he's stunned while trying to reprogram the main computer!

I wonder if the message is clear enough here?!

Here are Koenig and Bergman inspecting the alien foam sample they have, shades of CALTIKI and SPACE MASTER X-7...

Commander Koenig tries to use an Eagle to stop the foam invasion, but, ends up crashing his ship into the Moon dust!

The Space Brain closes in on Moon Base Alpha as the Alphans prepare for the foam invasion.

As the Brain gets close, all Hell breaks loose and the rooms are filled with the foam that looks a lot like laundry detergent!

Okay, wow, who has the number for the Maytag Service Man?!!

It looks like the Alphans are losing their battle with the bubbles, until...

The Space Brain finally passes by the Moon, and...

The foam starts disappearing and everyone gives a big sigh of relief, phew! There you go, now, check in again Wednesday for more, from... The Dungeon!!

THE TRIPODS - Season One, Episode One - BBC (1984)

"The Tripods" was a series of books written by John Christopher in the 60's. In 1984, the BBC made it into a 30 minute TV series. Although available now on DVD, I don't think it ever aired on American TV, or if it did, I sure as Hell didn't know about it, but then there was a lot I didn't know, after all, it was 1984!
From the looks of it so far, it seems like George Orwell was off by about 33 years, but that's a different story!

Welcome to another Saturday Night Special in the The Dungeon! Our short feature tonight is Season one, Episode one of  "The Tripods!"

Something is definitely not right here! Instead of 100 years into the future, it looks like 100 years into the past! So this is what the future is going to look like, nice and serene!

"But now the time has come, and there's no place to run, time has come today!" - The Chambers Brothers.
 High noon is when the party starts in this village!

It's Jack's turn, he just turned 16, and he's more than happy to make the needed modifications!

Here they come!!!

"The Tripods" are the product of some very early CGI work, and are quite impressive!

Jack is hoisted up into the giant robot! I guess "The Tripods" weren't advanced enough to have beams!

And while "The Tripods" do their business on Jack, the rest of the village has a picnic until Jack is returned a new man!

Jack has been capped and will never be capable of free thinking again, because as "The Tripods," and we all know, thinking just causes problems and gets people in trouble! 

Life is much simpler and better this way!

Let the party begin!!
The music in "The Tripods" was written by Mr. Ken Freeman who has kept very busy over the last 31 years with just two popular British hospital TV dramas, working as composer, and in the music department of 450 episodes of "Casualty," and another 608 episodes of "Holby City!" Wow!!

I like this shot!

Cousins Henry and Will Parker are not too sure if they go along with this whole capping thing, especially since their time is coming up soon!  Henry on the left was played by Jim Baker who stopped acting after this show, and John Shackley as Will on the right who acted a bit more and eventually quit the biz and moved to Chile.

The outcasts of this society, the uncapped vagrants are always trying to cause problems! They don't understand that Tripod Lobotomies are a good thing!

In a nutshell, after much deliberation, the boys decide to run away from the village and find the White Mountains the vagrants have told them about, where people still think freely without fear of retort!

But it's not going to be an easy journey because The Tripods are always watching!

I'd love to have a copy of this 7" single by Ken Freeman, but they are a minimum of  20 bucks or more when you can find one.

The cover illustration of this German version of the book is really cool, which reminds me, once again, I'd like to say Danke to our buddy in Berlin, Lord Litter, who has been doing a lot of work in the background, helping me find material lately! If you've got some time, and you want to hear some different music, then do yourself a favor and head on over and check it out!

"The Tripods" was on for two seasons, but the story was a trilogy, so it never had a proper ending! Finishing the series would be a good project for somebody to take on. It would be a moneymaker no doubt for somebody with lots of money and no ideas!!! I'd like to see it anyway!

WILLIE WHOPPER in 'Hell's Fire' / A Famous Fairytale Cartoon - 1934

It's time for another Willie Whopper cartoon, in color! In this story, flames grab and take Willie and his dog down a volcano into the bowels of Hell! There, he meets many historical figures and fictional characters, including Napoleon, Nero, Rasputin, Cleopatra, Simon Legree, Dr. Jekyll and others. One denizen among the damned souls (a personification of Prohibition!) tries to escape. Willie, determined to help the Devil keep the guy where he belongs, gives chase. Then, he and the would-be escapee are racing through the hottest place in Hell, the boiler room!! HELL'S FIRE is an alternate title.

Willie and his little pal make their way to the top of a volcano and are thrilled at their accomplishment, until...

Hands of fire reach up, grab them and pull them down, down, down!

Now in Hell, Willie watches as the special guests make their entrance, including sexy Cleopatra and slimy Simon Legree!

Everyone seems to be having a great time hanging out with the Devil, I mean, it looks pretty fun, with cool looking characters and all.

The Drunk is confronted by the Hell Hound, so, he takes off running.

And, the Devil yells... "Stop him!"

The Drunk is slowed down for a moment by getting an electrified drill in the ass!!

Willie and his pooch chase the tipsy runner to the boiler room where one of the Devil's workers is stoking the giant furnace!

The furnace temperature goes all the way to 'WOW!' and things are getting ready to blow!

And, within a few seconds, the furnace does exactly that, it blows sky high!

Like I said, Willie, his dog and the Drunk are blown high into the air! Now what?!..

They all fall into an eagle's nest! Then, the eagle drops the Drunk dude back into the volcano where he belongs, I guess. Anyway, Eegah!! is back tomorrow with something special for us!!