b r a v e c r e a t u r e s

Thumbing through some site or other I came across this picture and it reminded me of one of my favourite superheros as a child - The Green Arrow. This is clearly not your usual depiction of said hero, but is much more in keeping with my adult aesthetics. Lets face it, I have a recognised weakness for big blonds, and furry is seen as a plus.

The Green Arrow really didn't have super powers per say, but could do incredible things with arrows, and had arrows with amazing properties (shoot around corners, light, glue). The Arrow was also something of a social crusader, and that got my attention. As a member of the Justice League, he was an argumentative figure who often acted as the team's political conscience. He didn't have super foes, rather he usually fought corporate greed and injustice.

Interestingly the Arrow was teamed for a number of years with the Green Lantern - another of my favourites. There have been a number of people to hold the title of "Green Lantern" with each possessing a "power ring" that gives the user great control over the physical world as long as the wielder has sufficient willpower. While I don't have a power ring†, I get the feeling sometimes that my capacity to get things done is only limited by my will to do it.

The homoerotic implications of the Arrow / Lantern pairing was not lost on me, even as a child. I recall thinking how good they looked together and wondering whether they lived together. I really have never been anything other than a gay man, my brain is just wired to seeing guys together.

I am still trying to figure out which superhero I am, and Sue Storm isn't a good answer. Unfortunately the Lantern was a bit of a right wing republican and I find that all too hard to relate to, so he is no good. But whatever one I turn out to be, I think I would be hard pressed to find a better partner than the Green Arrow. Particularly if he looks like this.

† No comments from the peanut gallery please

Everyone remembers Thunderbirds - well provided you grew up in the English speaking world serviced by the BBC - not the American speaking world which is of course, a dark cultural wasteland.

Thunderbirds standouts as a cultural reference point for everyone who grew up around the time I did. Strange and slightly creepy as the "SuperMarionation" is, Gerry Anderson's vision of the near future was creative, insightful and brightly coloured on many levels. It did not succumb to the American tendency to cast everything into start black and white. Thunderbirds actors might have been wooden, but his characters and stories certainly are not.

Important lessons in film making, and something that the makers of the drearily average movie "Thunderbirds " should have kept in mind - story, story, story people. In this at least I agree with Gerry Anderson, Jonathan Frakes and Bill Paxon need to be actively restrained - if not just killed outright. 

Captain Scarlet was another of Anderson's creations and the story is actually quite dark and conflicted. The alien "Mysterons" only attack Earth because they were provoked - quiet violently.

Dateline: the day after tomorrow. Spectrum agents Captain Scarlet and Captain Black are assigned to investigate the source of unexplained extraterrestrial signals which have been detected emanating from Mars. They discover a strange and fantastic alien city but when their Bison Alien Terrain Vehicle is approached by a glowing green sphere, Black assumes that they are under attack and launches missiles which destroy the city. Miraculously, the city reforms and its alien occupants, the Mysterons, are disgusted by the violence of the Earthmen, pledging to crush their world. Black is apparently killed but Scarlet is returned to Earth as the Mysterons' instrument of destruction… 

Creepy - huh. But very much in Gerry Anderson's style.

One thing that stands out in all his shows is that he clearly has a MAJOR boner for tricksy vehicles, particularly cars with more than four wheels. Nothing of course will ever beat Lady Penelope's Pink Roller - but the Angel Fighter came close. My Dad made me a model of this when I was about 5 and I played with it until it was shrapnel - all with my fathers constant loving repairs to it. I suspect my interest in the model gave my father some kind of hope of some incipient butchness - but little did he know, I loved it because it was FABULOUS - not cause it blew stuff up.

Interestingly Gerry Anderson managed to talk ITV in the UK into popping for a remake of 'Scarlet' or as they like to call it - Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet. I am working on getting my hands on a copy for review but it looks pretty good from the trailer. I will admit that the CGI is attempting to be a little too realistic, and like most things that do it looks a little creepy because its not perfect enough. 'The Incredibles" worked because they built flaws in, so it avoided creepiness. Final Fantasy DID NOT work because it tried to be perfect and since it wasn't  - creepy.

So once again I am going to get to fly with Destiny Angel in one of the best looking aircraft I have ever seen - although I am not sure i will be rushing around the backyard making whoosing and blam-blam-blam noises. Ok, maybe I will, but only if I can get another model Angel Fighter. 

With a name like G Force it just had to be good - Battle of the Planets was one of my all time favorite cartoons when growning up. It and Doctor Who were the two programs I would fight tooth and claw to watch. My sister stood no chance against my adolecent-mo powers when it came down to it.

I am going to partiually quote Wikipedia here, cause they do a great job of summing the show up 

Battle of the Planets casts five young people as G-Force, consisting of Mark, Jason, Princess, Keyop, and Tiny. G-Force protects Earth from planet Spectra and other attacks from 'beyond space'. Their main ship is The Phoenix, which can deploy four smaller vehicles, each operated by one team member.

A regular plot feature was the deus ex machina transformation of The Phoenix into a flaming bird-shaped craft able to handle virtually any exceptional situation by functioning something like a large blowtorch. The Phoenix's primary weapon was a large supply of rockets. It also occasionally flaunted a powerful solar-powered energy blaster, although the team usually had the misfortune of choosing very cloudy days to use it and fell back on the flaming bird thingie.

Battle of the Palents was very Japanese in it construction and themeing (why does an alient enemy need to make all of its wepons look and operate like earth animals - mythological or otherwise. I never got that), but somehow very American in its moral context. Tedious at times, but as a 10 year old it was like ambrosia.

Although I must admit that I never understood why the aliens from Spectra, in particularly the strangely hermaphroditic "Zoltan", could always lose even though they had such great outfits.

On a similarly homo-theme, I must admit I always wondered why Mark and Jason didnt get together. There was a REALLY high level of visible sexual tension between them. Apparently this, along with graphic violence, profanity and transgenderism was excised from the original Japanese series when it was preped for US and then Australian markets. 

I also had a thing for Marks hawk shaped boomarang doovy, which interestingly enough was echoed years later (and possibly unconciously) in the Spice Girls film clip for "Say You'll be there ", which fyi was the thing that made me appreciate how perfectly and delciously aweful the SG's were. Given the film clips combination of bad outfits, too much make up, cheesy kung fu moves and Vitoria Beckhams trademark rhythmless posturing, its amazing its tongue in cheek self depreciation 

When you look at it, its not all that astounding that all of these things are linked by my some what campy taste, now is it.

YAdda 

Having stumbled across the intro for some of my favorite, cheesy childhood cartoon favorites on You Tube, I thought I would continue the series and track down a few more. I have vivid and, considering my now somewhat butch appearance, slightly disturbing memories, of standing in the backyard with one of my mothers necklaces on crying to the uncaring sky - "OH MIGHTY ISIS".

Truly there were no clues in my childhood to my incipient gay and somewhat flamboyant nature, now were there? 

 sagf

A recent blog ramble broght me across the intro for an old Krofft kids show, ElectraWoman and DynaGirl. Trashy, 70's and a lot of fun. This inspired me to go hunting for more of the old Krofft shows like Land of the Lost, Isis, Wonderbug, The Bugaloos, Lidsville and HR Pufnstuf. As I find them I will post them.

I seem to recall as a child that I thought Witcheepoo was way cool. Again, I think it was the shoes, although the VroomBroom is pretty special too. 

On a blog ramble this morning I ran across a YouTube video of a TV show that as a kid I was kind of facinated by - ElectraWoman and DynaGirl . At the time I wasnt so much facinated by how good they were as how could anyone make something that lame. Lame but kind of captivating. But then I think the same thing about Big Brother and Idol.

The creators of the show, Sid and Marty Krofft, were responsible for a number of other high camp, low production value spectaculars including Land of the Lost, Isis, Wonderbug, The Bugaloos, Lidsville and HR Pufnstuf. Clearly 70's, laced with drug references and anti establishment references, I suspect my love of bad, high comedy drag was founded in these programs.

I can't tell you how much I am loving those boots.