DEAD LIKE ME: LIFE AFTER DEATH - "Reaper Madness" (2009)

I just recently found out about this TV show that debuted on Showtime in 2003 called "Dead Like Me," and I don't know a whole lot, so I'm just gonna make up a bunch of crap!

Welcome to the Saturday Night Special version of The Dungeon!

As fate would have it, I had to go to a funeral today of a very old friend! It's just something we all have to deal with! What timing!

Supposedly Death is in that jar, and about to be released, but it says on the IMDB that what is actually written on the jar is "Sanskrit dictionary." 

Now that we understand the "mystery of death," it must be time to figure out the meaning of life!

The basic concept of "Dead Like Me" is that not all people die immediately! Some individuals are chosen to still roam the earth as Grim Reapers, and their job is to hand out death when they are told to! It's all very business-like, they meet as a group at the local Waffle Haus, and are given post-it notes that have their assignments on them. Other than that, they have fairly normal dead lives with jobs etc. but they don't have the same exact appearance as before because they don't need to be recognized, or it will screw up the whole thing.

The main character is Mensa member Ellen Muth as George Lass! George has just died in the most embarrassing fashion. A large explosion has sent a toilet seat screaming from heaven, on a direct path to her cranium! She is killed right on the spot!

One of George's first reaps is this suicidal inventor who has just received word that one of his inventions is going to make him rich! Too bad he got the news about five minutes too late, and so he takes his final encore instead!

That's George on the right with her dead team members, Callum Blue as Mason, Jasmine Guy as Roxy, and Sarah Wynter as Daisy! They are all reprising their roles from the original "Dead Like Me" TV series in 2003 except Sarah, because she was busy ironically enough working in "The Dead Zone" as Rebecca Caldwell which I've also been watching for like the last two months!!

This is what George looked like when she was alive, and what she looks like to us! (She's just about to get whacked with that toilet seat in this shot!)

But to all other humans including her Mother and sister, she now looks like this!

At the beginning, George's boss was re-killed when the Waffle Haus exploded, and he was replaced with a guy that didn't care about the gang or their victims, so they disposed of him, but it wasn't easy. In the end, post-it notes rain down on George, and after realizing she's going to have to be the new boss, she utters the fateful words, "I am so fucked!"

I guess now I know why I had such a compelling impulse to buy this Dia De Muertos candle the other day!

I just saw the original show airs on Primo para nada, so I guess if I ever get out of "The Dead Zone," I'll have to move on over to "Dead Like Me!" How freakin' appropriate!

CRASH AND BURN / The Weapons Of The Future Are Alive - 1990

This is the follow-up flick of ROBOT JOX, in this one, Unicom is a powerful organization overseeing most of the world after its economic collapse and have banned computers and robots in an attempt to insure economic stability. When a Unicom Synth Zoid infiltrates a southwest TV station and kills the manager, a revolution against the gestapo-like corporation, a Unicom delivery man must help the rest of the station survive!

It stars Paul (LETHAL WEAPON 3) Ganus, Megan (TRANCERS II) Ward, Ralph (FIVE EASY PIECES) Waite, Bill (THE BLOB '88) Moseley and Eva (THE BARBARIANS) LaRue. This was a direct to video production directed by Charles Band, I have to admit, the acting is top shelf!

Our hero, Tyson Keen, is assigned to the Unicom TV station way out in the desert somewhere...

Out back of the facility is a giant robot that had got a 'crash and burn' computer virus and is now non functional.

Beautiful women work at the facility. Parice gets comfortable as Arren watches. Not to be outdone, Arren takes her top off for us. Supposedly, Arren is just 16 years old!

The TV host and his girls relocate in the medical ward, preparing for a thermal storm.

Then, the station manager is targeted for assassination, like, what's going on around here?!

Arren is trying to get rid of the computer virus and get the giant robot up and working again. She attains limited success with the effort.

We find out that Quinn is a Synth Zoid and is killing off the humans at the facility, here, he tries to choke out Arren! This is kinda weird, in 1981, my art pal and I came up with a comic story about robots called, WE ARE THE SYNTHAZOIDS!

Tyson, Arren and Parice try to escape the place in a classic 1959 Ford pickup (everyone else is dead) but Quinn attacks them, he barely holds on as Tyson tries to shake him loose!

Then guess what happens?.. Right, the thermal storm hits! An electrical bolt strikes a tower.

Wouldn't you know it, the tower falls and traps Tyson and Quinn beneath it. At this point, Quinn is battered to Hell, but he is still trying to get his metal hands around Tyson's neck!

Arren splits the scene and tries to get the robot up and going in an attempt to save Tyson.

And, it works!! The lumbering giant heads toward the fallen tower...

It goes to the tower and picks it up, freeing Tyson, and Quinn! Our hero is just barely able to escape Quinn's grasp, so, Arren has the robot stomp the HELL out of the evil jerk!!

Then, the giant robot malfunctions and falls to the ground. But, mission accomplished!

Well, it turns out that Parice is also a Synth Zoid, it looks bad for Tyson until Arren shows up with a special rifle and blows her metal head off! Tyson and Arren leave the facility in the Ford pickup and disappear into future... Tune in tomorrow when Eegah!! brings his club to the fight!

KID MONK BARONI - Leonard Nimoy - "King Of The Ring" (1952)

 Tonight I've got a Ringside Special Welterweight Wednesday for you, and it's a movie that packs a wallop for a number of reasons! Even though he's the star of the show, look what amazingly small credit Leonard Nimoy gets on this poster!

"Kid Monk Baroni" just might be one of the most interesting movies you never heard of! I wasn't familiar with it, I just sat down to watch a 50's boxing movie being the big fan of the sweet science that I am, but this film is something else, it's real a pop culture jewel, but I digress!

 The credits roll "Introducing Leonard Nimoy" and this is Mr. Spock's first starring role, but he did have two very very minor parts previous to "Kid Monk Baroni," in "Queen For A Day," and "Rhubarb!"  Some of Leonard's other super cool, but less familiar roles include "Them!," and "The Brain Eaters!" He was also in the "Twilight Zone" episode "A Quality Of Mercy," and not one, but two "Outer Limits" episodes, "I, Robot," and "Production And Decay Of Strange Particles!"

Beautiful view of 1952 New York sky scape!

If you get in trouble, it's a one way trip to the Police Dept!

How's this for two classic icons in one shot? Jimmy Olsen and Mr. Spock!

The opening shot says. "The Billy Goat Gang" in "Kid Monk Baroni," but this gang of 50's punks shouldn't get mixed up with The Bowery Boys or The Dead End Kids, because except for the one fool who steals everything he can stick under his coat over and over, this group of young men is devoid of humor! Jack (Jimmy Olsen) Larson is Angelo, Budd Jaxon is Knuckles, Archer MacDonald is Pete, Wayne (The 7th Is Made Up Of Phantoms) Mallory is Tony, Ted Avery is Joey, and Leonard Nimoy is Paul 'Monk' Baroni.

Kathleen Freeman has 294 credits to her name, and has been in almost every movie and TV show ever made between 1948 and 2003, but she still sounds funny with her Italian accent as Kid Baroni's Mom!

Instead of molesting boys, the local priest teaches them to box in his makeshift gym in the basement of the church! Monk is slow at first but shows he has potential, especially in the power department!

Monk starts boxing in local amateur matches. He wins six matches and six watches, and every time he takes them to the pawn shop and gets two dollars, but after the sixth one, the guy at the pawn shop says enough is enough! He can only sell so many watches!

So Monk turns pro!

Monk has this horrible clubbing/chopping style that looks to me like it would even be illegal in a MMA match today, pounding down on the back of his opponent's head and neck!

Monk also likes classical music! This is a super classic 'Bozo-Approved' listening room at the local record store!

Because his face is slightly disfigured, Monk had never had any luck with girls until he meets Allene (Adventures Of Superman) Roberts as Emily Brooks! Emily makes Monk feel better about himself!

Monk falls in with a less than legitimate manager and team of backers, and they want him to exploit himself, and go all out as a bad guy, no matter what it takes!

Monk is really an intelligent and thoughtful person, but this new persona kind of fits his style too!

After he takes a beating, and his self confidence is waning, Emily suggests to Monk that maybe he should try and get some plastic surgery so that he will feel better about himself!

Here's the new good looking Monk! He's now so full of confidence that it's turned him into a cocky asshole!

Monk kind of forgets about Emily and picks up on Mona (Space Patrol) Knox, but she's just playing him, and after she gets him to buy her some furs etc, she drops him like a hot potato!

Time for Monk to take his new look into the ring!

Now Monk has gone from Mr. Excitement to the most boring fighter in the ring because he doesn't want to get hit in his pretty face any more!

If you like Leonard Nimoy, or boxing, or 1950's movies in general, I don't think you can go wrong wasting 79 minutes watching "Kid Monk Baroni." If it's a not a knockout, it's at least a unanimous decision!!