Retro pop culture A to Z : from Atari 2600 to zombie films

477 Pages·2014·13.57 MB·English

by  Weiss

Retro Pop Culture A to Z: From Atari 2600 to Zombie Films by
Brett Weiss

Copyright 2013 by Brett Weiss Other than for review purposes and brief
quotes, no part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form whatsoever
without written permission from the author. All rights reserved.

Publisher: Dark Dreamer Publishing [email protected]
www.brettweisswords.com

For Charis, Ryan, and Katie Special thanks to: Neal Adams, Dain
Anderson, George Balen, Margaret Barrett, Cary Bates, Bret Blevins, Jon Bon
Jovi, Vincent J. Bossone, Jenkins Boyd, Ray Bradbury, Michael Breakfield, Len
Brown, Nicholas Buckland, Pam Burnett, Bart Bush, Rachel Kramer Bussel,
Chris Claremont, Les Daniels, Brian Denham, Erica Durance, Roger Ebert,
Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Glenn Fairchild, Ian Fleming, Gary Flower, D.C.
Fontana, Brent Frankenhoff, John Fricke, Neil Gaiman, GeoData, Steve Gerber,
David Gerrold, John “Gill-Man of Arizona” Gilbert, Dan Gibson, Kathy Gibson,
Ben Gold, Kirk Hammett, Ron Harper, Jack C. Harris, Sol Harrison, Craig
Hassell, Susan Hauf, Tony Isabella, Jim Johnson, Jenette Kahn, Lloyd Kaufman,
Rick Kelsey, Dan Kinem, Stephen King, Bill Kurtz, Chris Latshaw, Jim Lee,
Stan Lee, Lee Leslie, Johnny Loyd, Andy Mangles, Ed Martin, Doug McCoy,
Dwayne McDuffie, John Jackson Miller, Arthur Moses, Doug Neubauer, Rob
O’Hara, Gene Orlando, John Papa, Martin Pasko, Darrin Powell, Greg Prato,
James Robinson, Bob Rozakis, Jim Salicrup, Joe Santulli, Richard J. Schellbach,
Michael Shalhoub, Craig “Mr. Silver Age” Shutt, Derek Slaton, Steven
Spielberg, Gloria Steinem, Darren Sulfridge, Jean Thomas, Tony Timpone,
Rodolfo Vazquez, Howard Scott Warshaw, Charis Weiss, Joan Weiss, Katie
Weiss, Ryan Weiss, Wendy Winans, Dan Woodley, and Matt Wright.
Table of Contents

Introduction

Alien: The Movie and the Maze Game

Atari 2600: Long Live the VCS!

Batman: Holy TV Series!

The Beatles: 50th Anniversary of the Fab Four

The Brady Bunch: Here’s the Story

Computers: Collecting Vintage PCs

Creature from the Black Lagoon: The Universal Standard

DC Comics Action Figures: A Complete History

Dynamite Magazine: A Scholastic Treasure

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: 30th Anniversary

Elvis Presley and Graceland: Long Live the King!

Famous Monsters of Filmland: Forry’s Fantastic Fan Mag

The Flash: Speed Kills

FOOM and Amazing World of DC Comics: Two Great Magazines

Forbidden Planet: 50th Anniversary

Golden Age Arcade Games: Collecting the Classics
Green Lantern: A Hero History

Harry Houdini: The Great Escape (Artist)

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: 30+ Years of Power

The Hulk: Lou Ferrigno Smash

Intellivision: Doin’ the Slide-‘n’-Shoot

The International Video Game Auction House: Ben Gold’s Bailiwick

Iron Man: The Metal-Clad Marvel

James Bond: Still Cool at 50

Jaws: A Blockbuster with Teeth

Jukeboxes: The Beat Goes On

KISS: The Hottest Band in the Land

Land of the Lost: Marshall, Will, and Holly

Lois Lane: Still Gorgeous at 75

Mad Magazine: The Usual Gang of Idiots

Marilyn Monroe: The Legend Lives On

Metallica’s Kirk Hammett: Famous Monster Collector

Nintendo NES: The Great Gray Box

Ouija Boards: Mystic Oracle or Harmless Toy?

The Outer Limits: Creatures, Cards, and More
Pinball Machines: Collecting the Classics

Prince: Rock Star and Comic Book Hero

Queens in Film: The Evil Ones

Ray Bradbury: A Sci-Fi Legend

Record Albums: LPs Make a Comeback

Return of the Jedi: 30th Anniversary

Robots in the Movies: The 1950s

The Rolling Stones: 50 Years of Satisfaction

Sega Master System: Playable and Collectable

Spidey Super Stories: The Surreal Super-Hero Skit

Stan “The Man” Lee: A True Marvel

Star Trek: The Animated Series: The Canonical Cartoon

Superman vs. Muhammad Ali: A Clash of the Titans

Thundarr the Barbarian: A Cartoon Classic

TV Guide: 60th Anniversary

Universal Monsters Comic Books: A Dark Horse Favorite

VHS Video: Tale of the Tape

Video Game Board Games: A Monopoly on Fun
The Wizard of Oz: We’re Off to See the Wizard

Wonder Woman: A Formidable Feminist

The X-Men: 50th Anniversary

Yars’ Revenge: Clearing a Path to the Qotile

Zombie Films: Watching the Dead Walk

*Bonus article: 8mm Films: Of Monsters and Movies

*Bonus article: 8-Track Tapes: Making a Comeback

About the Author
Retro Pop Culture A-Z: From Atari 2600 to Zombie Films
Introduction Throughout the years of interviewing people about movies, TV
shows, rock bands, toy collections, and the like, numerous collectors and fans
have told me that a particular entertainment helped them through a difficult time,
such as a death in the family. I took them at their word, of course, but I couldn’t
really relate.

However, that’s all changed now. During my dad’s months-long battle
against pancreatic cancer near the latter part of 2013, when I wasn’t hanging out
at the hospital or at my parents’ house, I watched all six seasons of The Wonder
Years on Netflix. I suppose I was trying to reconnect with my past as the Arnold
clan reminds me of my own family growing up.

My dad wasn’t as grumpy as the Arnold dad (in fact, he was rarely
grumpy at all, just quiet), and my brother was much smarter than Wayne, but the
parallels are many, from the dad and brothers roofing their own house to the cool
older sister to the endless summers to the neighborhood football games.

The Wonder Years isn’t featured in this book (volume two, perhaps?), but
I used this anecdote to illustrate a point: entertainment, when done right, is much
more than a simple way to pass the time. It can be a healthy coping mechanism,
a way to escape for a while when the real world is cold and cruel.

Not all TV shows, movies, etc. are as substantive as The Wonder Years,
but even such lightweight fare as The Brady Bunch and He-Man and the Masters
of the Universe can help take the edge off of a long, difficult day, or maybe even
help a fan get through the death of a loved one.

Despite various allergies, insecurities, sibling squabbles, and other
typical growing pains, I had a happy childhood. I grew up during the 1970s and
’80s in a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas, where I spent a lot of time outside,
playing baseball, basketball, and football, riding my bike, digging in the dirt, and
exploring the woods behind our house.

However, that didn’t keep me from watching too much television,
reading too many comic books and magazines, listening to too much rock music,
and playing too much pinball and too many video games. In retrospect, these
“too many” things were therapeutic, though I didn’t consciously realize it at the
time—I was just having fun.

Shows like Star Trek, the Land of the Lost, and Thundarr the Barbarian
sent my imagination soaring, as did the exploits of such super-heroes as Batman,
Green Lantern, and Spider-Man, the latter of whom I followed like a soap opera
character—I couldn’t wait to see what Spidey and the gang were up to each
month in the pages of Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man and The
Amazing Spider-Man (I couldn’t afford all the issues, so on more than one
occasion I was told by the convenience store proprietor, “Son, this ain’t no
liberry.”) Years before that, I would watch The Electric Company (a strange and
more advanced alternative to Sesame Street) for the sole purpose of catching the
“Spidey Super Stories” segments starring my favorite wall-crawler.

I was also a big fan of The Incredible Hulk (1978-1982) and Wonder
Woman (1975-1979) TV shows (as a bonus, Dad liked these programs as well,
so we would watch them together), along with just about anything else that had a
super-hero in it.

When Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park aired on NBC on Oct. 28,
1978, I was beside myself with excitement. The fact that the film had cheesy
dialogue, cheap special effects, and poor acting didn’t faze me—I got to see my
real-life super-heroes on TV. I loved every second of the movie and still watch it
from time to time. I still listen to KISS on a regular basis. Love Gun, Destroyer,
Rock and Roll Over, Alive, Alive II, and Dynasty are some of my favorite albums
of all time. I even like the critically panned Music from “The Elder”.

Earlier in 1978, my best friend’s mom had taken us to see Jaws 2, and it
scared me witless. As I nervously ate the salt water taffy we had smuggled in, I
would shield my eyes during the scarier, more graphic scenes. Not long after
that, I got to see the original Jaws on television, and it was even scarier.

Nineteen-seventy-eight was also the year most of my friends began
getting video game systems, primarily the Atari 2600, which had come out the
year before. Since it was $250 plus tax, there was no way I was going to get one
—it was simply out of our family’s price range.

So, I did what any video game-starved nuisance would do. In addition to
going to the arcades, where I could play a video game for a mere quarter, I
would ride my bike to the house of everyone I knew within a five-mile radius
who had a gaming console. When I would get there, if they weren’t playing their
Atari 2600, Fairchild Channel F, Odyssey2, or Intellivision, I would invariably
be surprised—after all, I surmised, if you had easy access to a game system, why
would you ever want to do anything else? Luckily, unless they were busy with
chores, my friends would usually indulge me with a few games of Baseball,
Combat, Air-Sea Battle, or other early favorite.

Years later, when I was in high school, I sat riveted during a midnight
screening of Night of the Living Dead. I was too old and, I thought, too cool, to
be scared by the movie, but I was certainly glad to be in the safety of that theater
surrounded by film fans and friends, instead of in that ramshackle frame house
surrounded by zombies.

This was also around the time when I saw Forbidden Planet (1956) for
the first time (a life-changing experience that sent me on a quest to see all the
’50s sci-fi movies), got a ColecoVision of my very own (chronicled in my first
book, Classic Home Video Games, 1972-1984), subscribed to The Flash
(starring my favorite super-hero), started going to Larry Lankford’s Dallas
Fantasy Fair conventions, and began attending rock concerts, such as my first
KISS show in 1983.

In short, I had a misspent youth, “wasting” inordinate amounts of time
doing things that I loved. My job as a freelance writer takes advantage of all
those pop culture pursuits from the past as most every day I write articles about
movies, music, books, video games, comics, collectibles, science fiction, and
other fun topics.

Retro Pop Culture A to Z: From Atari 2600 to Zombie Films reprints 60
of those articles, each carefully selected, and each expanded and updated
specifically for this book. Along with the A-Z articles, I’ve included a pair of
“lucky eight” bonus chapters: a feature on 8mm films and a story about 8-track
tapes.

As the saying goes, I hope you enjoy reading these articles as much as I
had writing them. Writing is hard work, but I wouldn’t trade my job for any
other. Unless, of course, I could somehow get paid to play video games, watch
movies, listen to music, and read books. Wait a minute…
~Brett Weiss December 14, 2013