T.J. HOOKER - "King Of The Hill" (1982)

 

Two things I never talk smack about are "The Twilight Zone," and almost every project that William Shatner has ever been involved with in his career. This week's William Shatner Wednesday feature falls into category two.

 

William Shatner was T.J. Hooker for 90 glorious episodes from 1982 to 1986.

This one was was Episode 02, from Season 02, and it was titled "King Of The Hill."

Hooker's partner on the job is a young officer named Romano played by Adrian (Slave Master) Zmed.

Heather (Firestarter) Locklear is the cute as a bug Officer Stacy Sheridan.

60's teen heartthrob James (Moondoggie) Darren is Devil Dan Darko.

There's no shortage of action, that's for sure!

I never watched this show when it originally aired back in 1982, but as a big Shat fan, it sure is fun to watch some forty years later.

Two punks and this wild-eyed girl are on a crime spree robbing convenience stores.

Shat at his smuggest!

I read where Adrian said he became pretty good friends with Bill Shatner, after spending more than 15 hours with him over the course of the show, just shooting scenes like this together in the squad car.

James Darren would later become a regular on the show as Officer Jim Corrigan.

 

Today we have obnoxious street racers, but back in 1982, these hill racers had a little more sense.

If this was the kind of crowd that was attracted to street racing today, I don't think people would mind as much!

The Shat has more than his fair share of swagger!

He doesn't even need to say anything, but he still has plenty of cool one-liners.

This violent clown gets exactly what he deserves, a one-way ticket to Hell!

Young officers Romano and Sheridan had planned a race of their own, but the Captain and Hooker come up with a better and safer alternative.

Thanx again to Mr. Magic Music Box in Berlin for suggesting this one to me!

THE PORTRAIT / Silent Horror Short - 1915

Today we're going to travel back 107 years for a little creepy horror fun from Russia, it's all about a young man that gets more than he bargained for! Original title is PORTRET.

A young man, an artist, is at an antique store looking for some artwork to spice up his room. After looking things over, the owner suggests that he buy a painting to hang on his wall.

And the young man walks out of the shop with a painting of an older gentleman.

He walks back to his place with the painting in hand, love this winter shot.

After hanging the painting on his wall, the man is having trouble going to sleep, something about the painting is bothering him.

He gets up and washes the canvas clean...

But now, what he's seeing is worse than before!

He's so disturbed that he hangs a blanket over the painting.

And finally, he falls asleep...

He wakes up in a panic and notices the blanket has fallen off the painting, and the dude in the painting is staring right at him!

He goes up to the painting, and...

He gets a spook house thrill! This gag was used numerous times in the silent era and was also used in later pictures. Some don't work this well if you know what I mean.

Then he wakes up with a start, it was only a nightmare, holy cow!

So, he goes back to sleep.

He wakes up again with a feeling of dread, and the blanket is off the painting again.

Oh ..My.. God!! The freaking guy is climbing out of the picture!

The old man sits down and starts counting his stacks of money in a bag he has. But, he drops some on the floor.

The young man grabs a wad of the bills and hold them close, hoping that he can get away with the pilfer.

The old man counts his money and he's missing some of his dough, and there's only one place he will find it!

The young man wakes up again and realizes that he was having another nightmare!! This short is pretty cool, creepy and fun to watch. Have a goot one!

THE ABOMINABLE SNOW RABBIT - "Which Way Did He Go George?" (1961)

Monsters and cartoons just go hand in hand like love and marriage or horse and carriage, so that's why tonight's Saturday Night Special is a cartoon from 1961 titled "The Abominable Snow Rabbit."

Bugs Bunny needs to get himself some better maps. He meant to be going to Palm Springs, but instead ends up in the Himalayan mountains! He's gonna have a big surprise when he opens his eyes.

His pal Daffy Duck was trailing right behind him, and Daffy immediately dives into what he thinks is going to be warm water, not frozen ice.

Daffy doesn't appreciate having his face flattened, and lets Bugs know all about it!

Daffy is cold and pissed!

Daffy then meets a rather large creature, the Abominable Snow Man!

It really is amazing how easy it is to create an illusion like something very large.

The writer of "The Abominable Snow Rabbit" was the amazing Tedd Pierce. IMDB states that because Tedd had a penchant for partying and showing up to work hungover that Chuck Jones lampooned him by creating the character Pepe Le Pew, but Wikipedia said it was because he thought of himself as a ladies' man. Whatever his lifestyle was, Tedd still managed to crank out 270 of these stories. I wish I had spent just one of those nights of debauchery with him, just so I could ask him why he liked to refer to George so much.

The Abominable Snowman thinks Daffy is a rabbit because the sleeves of his shirt make it look like he has ears.

 He really wants a rabbit for a little buddy named George.

 

Daffy explains to the monster that he's not a rabbit but he knows where there is one.

When the monster finally gets Bugs in his clutches, the first thing he does is sit on him like a mother hen to keep him warm.

The cartoons from this era were simple, but what great colors!

Bugs folds back his ears, and turns the tables again!

The monster has no ill intentions, but he's still dangerous like King Kong, Frankenstein or Lemmy, just because he's a big bumbling lummox.

Bugs heads back to Palm Springs, his original destination. I love this image!

The snowman follows him the whole way, but finds he doesn't like it, because it's just too hot!

When the poor monster melts from the heat, Daffy comes to the conclusion that he really was a snow monster!