Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

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Ares
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Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by Ares »

So as to stop derailing the Bad Movie thread, I figured I'd put this here where at least me and HalloweenJack can geek out about this sort of thing. Anyone else is free to chime in, tho.

In any case, I'm a big fan of the older pulp stories and the film serials of the 30s, 40s and early 50s. They're just a lot of fun, action stories with some wild creativity behind them, all the more impressive because they came out in the time they did. And naturally they inspired some of the more impressive franchises of today, such as Star Wars.

I plan on discussing things more in-depth later, but some of my favorites of the genre off the top of my head include:

Pulp Franchises:
Doc Savage
The Spider
John Carter of Mars
Conan the Barbarian
The Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos


Film Serials:
The Adventures of Captain Marvel
The Flash Gordon serials
King of the Rocket Men
The Undersea Kingdom


Pulp/Serial-Inspired:
The Green Hornet (1960s TV series, Dynamite Comics)
The Rocketeer (film, various comics)
The Shadow / The Shadow vs Grendel (modern comics)
Indiana Jones (film/game series)
The Spirit (comic series)
The Defenders of the Earth (animated series)
Jonny Quest (various TV series)
Flash Gordon (80s film)
Phantom 2040 (animated series)
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MacynSnow
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by MacynSnow »

It seem's you& i have a similar taste in Pulp stuff Ares, though i'm more of a Noir fan...
I especially loved The Green Hornet and The Defenders of The Earth cartoon show(Inhumanoids did a nice attempt at using Cthullu Mythos stuff, but couldn't get everything past the censor's they wanted to).
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Ares
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by Ares »

Yeah, InHumanoids was basically the closest we've ever gotten to "Cthulhu the Action Series". It was a lot of fun.

I also need to find a video online of " A Shoggoth on the Roof".
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by MacynSnow »

Ares wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 12:36 am Yeah, InHumanoids was basically the closest we've ever gotten to "Cthulhu the Action Series". It was a lot of fun.
Favorite part was how they linked it to G.I.Joe(RAH)(Reporter Hector Ramirez,Gen.Flagg, Ace: Brad J.Armburster), Jem(Blackthorne partly own's Misfit Music/Stinger Sound) and M.A.S.K(The Mayhem's went to Private School with both Shore's and Auger is a distant cousin-in-law to Alex Sector).There all small links,but it proves Cthullu exists in Hasbroverse.Now they just need to make an InHumanoids IDW Comic to solidify it...
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by FuzzyBoots »

Ares wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 12:36 amI also need to find a video online of " A Shoggoth on the Roof".
Hah... a tricky thing because lawyers can be more fearsome than any eldritch horror, and the people who administer "A Fiddler on the Roof" are very touchy about their property.

One of my favorite pulps, and still a guilty pleasure, are the The Destroyer books. There's something enjoyable about the idea of there being a an amoral preternaturally talented martial artist who basically exists to eliminate threats to the United States, whether the government agrees or not.
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by Woodclaw »

Ares, I noticed that you left out the work of one Lee Falk, creator of two classics of the genre: Mandrake and the Phantom.
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by Ares »

Woodclaw wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:18 pm Ares, I noticed that you left out the work of one Lee Falk, creator of two classics of the genre: Mandrake and the Phantom.
My only experience with Mandrake and the Phantom have been The Defenders of the Earth animated series, and to a more limited extent Phantom 2040. I do have the film serials for both characters, but I haven't gotten around to watching them yet.
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by Woodclaw »

Ares wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:34 pm
Woodclaw wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:18 pm Ares, I noticed that you left out the work of one Lee Falk, creator of two classics of the genre: Mandrake and the Phantom.
My only experience with Mandrake and the Phantom have been The Defenders of the Earth animated series, and to a more limited extent Phantom 2040. I do have the film serials for both characters, but I haven't gotten around to watching them yet.
I was actually talking about the comics.
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by Ares »

Woodclaw wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 5:57 pm
Ares wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:34 pm
Woodclaw wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:18 pm Ares, I noticed that you left out the work of one Lee Falk, creator of two classics of the genre: Mandrake and the Phantom.
My only experience with Mandrake and the Phantom have been The Defenders of the Earth animated series, and to a more limited extent Phantom 2040. I do have the film serials for both characters, but I haven't gotten around to watching them yet.
I was actually talking about the comics.
That's what I assumed you were talking about. But as I have not read the comics, nor own any collections of them, nor sought them online as of this time, I made reference to the material featuring them that I do actually own and am familiar with. Hence the "my only experience" part of my initial statement. The list in the opening post is not meant to be a representation of every pulp/film serial worth seeing, just the ones I have personally read or viewed.
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by MacynSnow »

I always liked Alec Balwin's version of The Shadow,as it kept true to the Pulpyness of where he came from.

I also never would've picked Billy Zane as Lead for The Phantom,but he did suprisingly good with a rather awful story.

I personally LOVE Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow(An eyepatch-wearing,leather-clad Angelina Jolin has nothing to do with it in the slightest,shut up) and they did a very good job on it.

The Rocketeer came out a little too early to be any good(it didn't help that Timothy Dalton was an awful villian pick),as the script was just phoned in.Though almost all the cast(save Dalton) did what they could with what they had...

Flash Gordon could've been a Fantastic movie if they hadn't changed Flash's Job & attitude,otherwise it's just a VERY good movie...
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by FuzzyBoots »

I enjoyed The Spirit as well, although I think they went a little too goofy with it at times.
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by Chris Brady »

MacynSnow wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:31 pm I always liked Alec Balwin's version of The Shadow,as it kept true to the Pulpyness of where he came from.
I tried to like it.
MacynSnow wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:31 pm I also never would've picked Billy Zane as Lead for The Phantom,but he did suprisingly good with a rather awful story.
Did you know that it was one of the first superhero films that had the main actor physically bulk up to fit the role?
MacynSnow wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:31 pm I personally LOVE Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow(An eyepatch-wearing,leather-clad Angelina Jolin has nothing to do with it in the slightest,shut up) and they did a very good job on it.
I rather liked this film too. But Angelina Jolie was not a strength for me.
MacynSnow wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:31 pm The Rocketeer came out a little too early to be any good(it didn't help that Timothy Dalton was an awful villian pick),as the script was just phoned in.Though almost all the cast(save Dalton) did what they could with what they had...
I still love this film.
MacynSnow wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:31 pm Flash Gordon could've been a Fantastic movie if they hadn't changed Flash's Job & attitude,otherwise it's just a VERY good movie...
The 1980s one?
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by MacynSnow »

Yep,i'm talking the one Queen did god-awful work on and they STILL got a Grammy for it.
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by Shock »

MacynSnow wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 10:41 pm Yep,i'm talking the one Queen did god-awful work on and they STILL got a Grammy for it.
That is a MASTERPIECE of a soundtrack. How could you!?! :o :shock: :mrgreen:
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Re: Pulse Pounding Adventures - Pulp and Film Serial Discussion

Post by MacynSnow »

Shock wrote: Thu Aug 30, 2018 12:28 am
MacynSnow wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 10:41 pm Yep,i'm talking the one Queen did god-awful work on and they STILL got a Grammy for it.
That is a MASTERPIECE of a soundtrack. How could you!?! :o :shock: :mrgreen:
You DO realize they even admitted to it ,right :|
While it was a well-done soundtrack, Queen just 'phoned-in' the main song.
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