November 7, 2021: Reader Tips

Reader Tips 58 Comments

I’m more of a dog person but this is pretty hilarious. Your meow-centric or other tips are much appreciated!

I have a special request of B A Deplorable Rupertslander, who seems to be a personal treasure trove of old  movies, particularly sci-fi ones. In the late 60’s or early 70’s, when I was a little kid growing up in Vancouver, I have a very distinctive memory of two movies or TV shows. I saw them on our 20″ B&W Zenith TV so who knows if they were actually in colour?  Anyhow, let me try to succinctly describe them:

  1. The first was a sci-fi about some aliens who landed on Earth.  They were loosely humanoid in shape but had an outer skin/shell of metal that looked like stainless steel.  They had the ability to raise an arm and fire a beam of energy at a human that turned the person into one of them.  Opposing them was a small group of people including a sheriff and a little boy.  The officer shot one of the aliens and when they cut it open, they discovered a human body inside.
  2. The second was a King Arthur type that definitely had a scene about removing the sword from a stone.  I have tried searching for this particular version but not found the 50’s or 60’s version I distinctly recall.

If you, or anyone else, has any insight into either of these, please do share!

58 Replies to “November 7, 2021: Reader Tips”

    1. Hmm…I grew up in YVR & Richmond…we only had what, maybe 3 channels.??
      KVOS in Bellingham I think and CBC/CTV…All on Rabbit ears….and us with vacuum tube TV’s and the cardboard round thingy that ya turned to show the on screen effect and in turn showed ya which Tube was burned out that day….then off to the drug store for a new one…!

      I don’t recall either..?? I did watch a few Outer Limits that scared the living daylights outa me at 8 yrs old though..!!

      1. Talk of TV makes me feel old, as I don’t recall us ever having one and my grandmother was one of the first to get one in the town. One channel that was on for a limited number of hours each day and I think it was the CBC.

  2. Thanks for this, Dan. I don’t remember the name of it but do appreciate your links!

    Btw it very well could have been an Outer Limits or Twilight Zone. I always scan through every one of them that comes to my attention but have not found it yet.

    1. If it was an episode of OL or TZ, then it’s unlikely I would have seen it. Where I grew up, the one channel we had broadcast either one. None of the OL or TZ shows I did see in re-runs had that theme.

  3. You’ve given me a challenge and I’ll have to think about them. Thanks.

    I recall an animated Disney King Arthur movie from the early 1960s, called The Sword in the Stone. It’s about Arthur before he became king but I don’t imagine that’s what you’re thinking of.

    As for the SF flick, I may well have seen that one. However, the aliens you described are similar to the ones in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, but without the transformation.

    Hmmmmm……

      1. Maybe this might have some clues:

        https://www.listchallenges.com/list-of-king-arthur-movies

        I did see Knights of the Round Table, The Black Knight (Alan Ladd was miscast in that one), and Prince Valiant. I don’t recall any of them having anything about an actual sword in a stone.

        I vaguely recall the TV series The Adventures of Sir Lancelot but, again, I don’t know if it had anything in it about the sword. An interesting side note: the star of the show (William Russell) was one of the first Doctor Who passengers.

      2. I think that you may be looking for a movie entitled The Magic Sword, starring Basil Rathbone and Gary Lockwood. It was released in 1962. I remember seeing it when I was just a wee little lad. Check imdb.com for some further details.

    1. I can’t say I ever saw that one before. I’ll have to add that to my list. Thanks.

  7. Now that we’re discussing movies, I offer a Peter Graves triple bill. The first two were made in the early 1950s during which the Korean War, as well as the Cold War, were on people’s minds. This would have been around the time that he was in Stalag 17 with William Holden.

    Killers from Space:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEUKiHZrktI

    This one’s rather hokey and made on a shoestring budget. Definitely drive-in material.

    Red Planet Mars:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OXYLCVUaCc

    Somewhat better than the first one, but with an interesting twist. It discusses the subject of how we might react if we do hear from extraterrestrials, some 40 years before the Jodie Foster movie Contact. It tends to get rather preachy starting at about the midpoint.

    1. It Conquered the World:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5QwOwq0vP0

      This was made a bit later and it’s also rather hokey. That’s hardly surprising as it was a Roger Corman film, so don’t expect something like The Day the Earth Stood Still. Still, if you decide to watch it, see it to the end as the monster’s a real hoot. It looks like the cross between an upside-down turnip and a Venus flytrap, sporting an evil grin.

    2. Remember seeing the latter at the local movie theatre back in the day. Thanks to bringing it back.

    1. roaddog – Unusually high tides are quite common, over time. Answers are always a google search away.

      “Nov 4-9
      Why will tides (in North Eastern US) be higher than normal?
      A perigean spring tide will be occurring. This is when the moon is either new or full and closest to earth. Higher than normal high tides and lower than normal low tides will occur.
      Mean sea level is generally higher in the early fall months due to warmer, expanding ocean water and changes in weather patterns.

      https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/high-tide-bulletin/fall-2021/

      1. A few years back, the tides were such that the wee reef at our favourite resort was exposed during low tide – and really exposed. One could wade close at low tide and watch the little critters popping out and retreating as the ocean waves sloshed over them. My hearing’s not that good, but offspring could hear the “pops” as this happened and was entranced.

      2. PHP2, thanks for that. It simply confirms what any even minimally informed person who has studied climate understands; that there are multiple factors influencing climate. The obsessive focus on atmospheric CO2 as the sole, monolithic factor influencing climate is the ultimate science-denying belief system.

        The gold-plated and now universally ignored quote from the sainted IPCC itself still stands: “Climate is chaotic, and unforecastable.”

  12. While we’re on the topic of forgotten movies and such from childhood, I remember seeing an anime-like movie on TV as a kid. I don’t remember much about it other than it being kinda dark, a female character named Felicia, and something about an Ice Queen tormenting said Felicia. Any thoughts what that might have been? Would have been on TV in the early 70s and am pretty sure it was a movie and not a recurring TV show.

    2. Saw another story a day or so ago, but it was Gulag Australia, not Michigan.

      Well, one of the warnings about the leaky jabs, was a slow degradation of the immune system, amongst other things. Look at all those that may not have hit the ER for adverse reactions, could those issues further manifest themselves with worsening conditions?

    1. Oh, my goodness….. There’s someone else who remembers those shows…..

      1. As Mr. McGarrity would say, “Well, Maggie, looks like you’ve had quite a day.” Who could forget Fitzgerald Fieldmouse? As for Bill and Ben? Golden age of Canadian television? Although after a little search, I see that Bill and Ben was from the Beeb.

        1. I don’t remember the mouse, but I knew that Bill and Ben were British. (Remember the weed?)

    1. Mike T, and they couldn’t bend their little fingers…..

      Also, as I note some of you guys are of, how shall I say, Eastern European heritage, do you remember what we know in the UK as ‘Tales from Europe’?
      In particular, the one with the whale frozen in the lake?

    1. He might be thinking of the Cybermen, which were introduced the last episode of William Hartnell’s tenure as the Doctor. They, like the Daleks, frequently showed up in various episodes.

      They were shiny, had sort of a face, but I don’t know if the other details applied to them. They apparently were humanoid:

      https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fd/bf/af/fdbfafd37439b86a212a9ecdf2c6401b.jpg

      If I recall correctly, some of their human-like features disappeared over the years. For example, in the Tom Baker episodes in which they appeared, the bare hands seemed to have vanished and were replaced by gloves or some such thing.

      I don’t think they would have been Sontarans as I don’t recall them ever having shiny suits:

      https://www.doctorwho.tv/explore/sontarans

      They were a nasty lot, though.

  18. Perhaps the TV experts here can help me with a decades long nagging memory…

    I am wondering about a TV show in the 70’s? 80’s? A group is shipwrecked on an island “stuck” in medieval times ruled over with an iron fist by a mysterious person in a purple cape. The survivors “liberate” the island using a WWII amphibious DUKW “Duck” they found also shipwrecked on the same island. (For those wondering what a DUKW/”Duck” is – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUKW )

    This one had sharks teeth painted on the front if my memory serves me right?

    1. Please, please, please. That’s all I want for Xmas. Love the future oil prices as well. $120/bbl Brent.

    2. Whatever will most injure the average working citizen routinely gets the nod from the Brandon administration. “He hate me.”

  22. A few years back, the tides were such that the wee reef at our favourite resort was exposed during low tide – and really exposed. One could wade close at low tide and watch the little critters popping out and retreating as the ocean waves sloshed over them. My hearing’s not that good, but offspring could hear the “pops” as this happened and was entranced.

  23. When we first got TV – and it had to be cable because lived too far down the mountainside to actually be able to get the Spokane stations (unlike the luckier folk who lived uptown), we got CBC. At that time, it was essentially programs from Toronto along with the news feeds going from Toronto to Vancouver. However, occasionally we got a film, and I’m depending on our sleuth to help me. It was a black-and-white British movie. Began when a village spinster went into the office of the local constabulary (this was moderately rural England) to complain that British troop exercises are upsetting the local waterfowl during the breeding season, and could the constabulary please deal with same. Constabulary endeavours to so do and realizes it’s NOT the British Army that’s involved. All sorts of derring-do follows; the good guys win, and our village spinster returns to the local constabulary to congratulate them on a job well done and to announce the arrival of many ducklings and goslings.
    Does ANYONE have any idea what that movie was?

    1. Hmmmmm….. that sounds vaguely familiar but, then, a lot of SF movies, including those made in Britain, were like that.

      I’d wager that it was likely made during the 1950s, due to the post-war fascination with science and technology. Also, many SF flicks were metaphors for the Cold War and creeping communism.

    1. Please President Cornholio Please Throw the switch and freeze those Eastern Commie Bastards in the DARK. I want to see them chop every tree down in Ottawa and Toronto to keep warm.
      Please Cornholio Justice for the Injuns and the Horny Tree Frogs throw the switch Cornholio.

  26. President Cornholio or FJTrudeau’s Crazy Uncle Joe. Is considering closing Line 5 again this week. If there is a God Please guide Cornholio’s Hand to throw the switch and shut down Ontario and Quebec for the winter.
    I want to see those sanctimonious POS scramble and cut down and chop every fucking tree in Toronto to keep warm. I want to see the largest cloud of smoke from burning wood around Ottawa that they have to close the HOG TROUGH called Parliament.
    Fuck The Penal Colony of Canada Joe.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/biden-targets-another-us-pipeline-shutdown-after-begging-saudis-more-oil

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