SPACE PRECINCT - "Double Duty" (1994)

This Saturday Night Special is once again a tip from my German correspondent, crazed DJ, and all around good guy, Lord Litter! I'm not quite sure how he keeps on finding them for me, but he does, and tonight it's the 1994 British TV show "Space Precinct."

I thought this episode titled "Double Duty" was the first episode, but as it turns out, it's actually the fourth episode!

"Space Precinct" is a cop show set in the year 2040, just a little over 20 years from now. Some of the police officers are human like American actor Ted (353 combined episodes of Dallas and Knots Landing as Gary Ewing) Shackelford as Lt. Patrick Brogan, and........

.......Another American actor, Rob (Sliders) Youngblood as Officer Jack Haldane, 

and....

.....Danish actress Simone (Mary, Mother Of Jesus) Bendix as Officer Jane Castle!!!

Most of the rest of the officers in the precinct look like this!

The fun part about "Space Precinct" is that it was created by Gerry Anderson of "Thunderbirds," "Terrahawks," and "Stingray" fame, and it looks great because of it!

I don't know who to thank for how cool "Space Precinct" looks, the colorists, the model makers, or the special effects technicians, probably all of them, but this is just fun to look at!

It's just eye candy!

And it works when they mix this with the 'live' action!

They could have dispensed with the story and it would have been fine with me!

But since they didn't, this grub pizza is what you have to look forward to in 21 years! Maybe we'll get lucky, and they'll start doing it even sooner!

Yum---Mee!

The pizza delivery guy is Idris (Heimdall, The Guardian of Asgard) Elba, in only his second appearance on TV! Idris is one busy guy these days, and has five or six things in pre or post-production!

As cartoonish as it is, "Space Precinct" also has some space horror going on.

The creature effects makeup was some of the early work of animatronics designer Richard Gregory who just passed away a few months ago....

................And special effects technician Phillip (Avatar) Sharpe.

All is not what it seems!  

Lana Citron in the last of her four credits morphs into something you don't want to trifle with!

This Thing!
"Space Precinct" went on for a full 24 episode season, so I'm sure I'll be back with more some day!
Ta Ta for now!

THE MONSTERS / Richard Olson: Monster Kid Home Movies - 1964

Today, we gots another Monster Kid Home Movie, this one's titled THE MONSTERS from Richard Olson and his many Monster Buddies! These kids didn't even make a title card (stupid kids!) so I added a title to the first still. Anyway, little dude is out digging in the graveyard, who knows what he's looking for. Then, a mysterious caped figure, I guess Dracula, comes into view... 1964 was a great Monster Kid time for Eegah!! and me, it was also the year we came up with DWRAYGER DUNGEON, which is a combination of our last names.

So, Drac attacks the digging fool. After he kills the guy, Frankie 9 shows up, and...

Drac brings the boy back to life, and then with some prestidigitation, the pastel vampire changes the poor guy into a lil' Skeleton Dude! What the, huh?!

Then, out of nowhere, other monsters show up, and, they start fighting Drac and his pals! At this point, it seems like this is the chance to show off some of the costumes the Monster Kids have in their arsenal... That green thing doesn't look all that scary or dangerous, stupid kids!

Lil' Pig Face also starts fighting the other monsters!.. When will all the mayhem end?

Now what?!!.. Looks like the local kids have arrived, and of course, they're fighting ALL the monsters that have invaded their turf!

How much fun these kids must be having, pretending they're in a fight to the end with a bunch of monster outsiders!

As in all the old monster movies, the good guys always win, like in this 2 minute wonder from those Monster Kids!!.. Tune in tomorrow when Eegah!! will have who the Hell knows what for us, later...

THE GONG SHOW - "Featuring Count Banjola" (1976-1980)

Well, I've got a different kind of hurt for you tonight, and it pains me bad that it seems virtually impossible to find any decent copies of the original 1970's mess called "The Gong Show."

And that's just the way it is on this Wednesday version of The Dungeon.

I don't know if the network destroyed all the tapes or if Chuck Barris himself did something with them, but all there basically is left of "The Gong Show" is stuff that people recorded at home on VCRs probably on the slow speed, so they could get more shows on a tape. Lord Litter found me this one and about 80 others of the original shows on The Internet Archive. It would be nice, but luckily you don't need HD to enjoy something of these zany proportions!

I honestly don't know which episode this was, and even IMDB doesn't have really any info on the individual shows, so I'm pretty much on my own here.

 The first performer on this episode was a guy going by the name of Count Banjola, who plays an instrumental song on the banjo while being suspended upside down like a bat!

The judges on this episode were Pat Paulsen, Pat McCormick, and Juicy Jaye P. Morgan!

The three judges give The Count a perfect score of 30!

I'm guessing on a lot of this and just going by what I think I hear, and I think this guy who expands his belly to show what women have to go through during pregnancy was named Elliot Apsey!

Ricky Tick is a terrible comedian..............

..........But he's one Helluva good dancer!

The King of the Fleas gets gonged almost immediately, and rightfully so!

This young man whose name is something like Peter Paul Quizada does a pretty good job of performing The Beatles' "Black Bird."

Instead of cutting to commercial, we get a taste of "Packed My Boomzie!"

Gloria Goldsmith and her band The Wood Work were quite talented and were definitely not a novelty act!

Is that a crocheted lampshade that Chuck is wearing on his head? 

And this is the same guy who claimed to be a C.I.A. hitman?

A regular on the show was Murray Langston as The Unknown Comic!

With all this shit, a toilet bowl cleaner like Ty-D-bol seemed like a fitting sponsor!

There was a three way tie between Gloria Goldsmith, Peter Paul, and The Count who all got 30 points, but Count Banjola prevailed and got the big check! I read that "The Gong Show" was voted one of the worst TV shows of all time, but I've been watching some YouTube videos of the popular show "Britain's Got Talent," and that show not only could not have existed without "The Gong Show," I saw an act that I know for a fact I saw on "The Gong Show" before where four guys were performing with hammers on pans covering their crotch!