Did you sing the show theme when you read the post title? Then you remember
the PBS science show
3-2-1 Contact. It's kind of funny how you can trace my growth as a human through the PBS
shows I watched growing up. Contact was an instant favorite as they explored
science principles in fun ways and also introduced The Bloodhound Gang, a
group of teen detectives that solved crimes using science.
I could probably go on about the show but, as the title says, I'm talking
about the accompanying magazine. I recently discovered there's about
90 issues uploaded to the Internet Archive. Being a fan of the show, I did get the occasional magazine and it's crazy
how many covers I recognize. Me being me, I keyed in on the cover of the
October 1982 issue which mashes up two of my favorite things: computers and
Halloween. I was thrilled to see this "Special Computer Issue" has a story
about Tron.
Tron had just come out in July, which was probably bad news for any kid just
finding out about the movie in October! The article spends time with Larry
Elin, one of the computer graphic artists that worked on the movie. He worked
at MAGI (Mathematical Applications Group, Inc) one of the first 3D computer
animation companies.
Not only was he an animator, but also the VP in charge of hiring some of
the other folks that worked on the movie. He worked on the iconic vehicle
sequences in the movie including the Lightcycles, Tanks, and Recognizers.
MAGI was located in NY and this page mentions how Disney execs in CA wanted to
see how the effects scenes were progressing every day. They had a "computer
link" to share the scenes coast to coast. I'm curious what that involved in
the early 80s!
The last page of the article shows someone programming a Grid Tank
into the computer. Another article in this issue features a young girl named Cori Grimm
that makes computer graphics for some
educational games. If you want to browse the full magazine, you can find it here.
I'll leave you off with the theme here but there's also plenty of full episodes up on YouTube if you want to dive down a nostalgia rabbit hole.
The country (world?) may be going to hell in a hand basket but I'm still
here to bring the Monthly Media Recap! As usual, linked titles will take you
to a trailer.
Two estranged spouses — one a detective, the other a news reporter — vie to
solve a murder in which each believes the other is a prime suspect. Excellent
murder mystery! And you can't go wrong with Jon Bernthal and Tessa Thompson as
the leads, great performances.
The Muppet Show (2026, Disney+)
If this doesn't get a series order, people should be rioting! Not only did the
reproduce the original Muppet theater but they also captured the essence of
the original show. I think more than ever, the world needs the Muppet Show!
Part of Hulu's holiday horror series Into the Dark. This one has a bunch of
teens playing a haunted board game on Halloween night. There's some drama
among the friend group but I didn't really care. I didn't like any of them and
was pretty much waiting for the body count to rise. The kills aren't anything
memorable but they're okay.
Rating: 5/10
The Jester 2 (2025, Shudder)
I'm torn on this series so far. On one hand, they have some creative kills
inspired by magic tricks. On the other, they keep doing something to make me
not like it as much as I want. In this one, they redesigned the Jester's look
(probably to get away from Art the Clown) and it just looks like a mask on a
mask. At least the plot in this one is more straightforward and it falls an oddly specific sub-genre that I enjoy: kids getting roped into working with the evil.
Another entry in the Halloween horror anthology series. I went back to see
what I thought of the rest and found I've only seen the first! Of the four
stories, the first, Ejectdead, is my favorite. Imagine The Ring but instead of
Samara, you get a Jason like slasher. There's one other tale that's memorable even if the way they carried it out didn't make a lot of sense. Overall, not bad for an indie anthology.
This feels like it could be in the Fast & Furious-verse: it's loud, dumb, about family, has lots of action and for some reason I really enjoyed it.
Bautista and Momoa play off each other really well, milking the "at odds buddy
cop" trope for all it's worth. My two biggest issues were some sequences with
painfully obvious blue screen and the unbelievable civilian collateral
casualties they cause with no mention.
Some people won't like this because a Predator is the main character and it
removes some of the mystery around them. Me? I've been waiting for this movie
since the original AvP comics came out. Having a young Predator protagonist
allows you to see there's more to them as a species. Elle Fanning is great and
has a lot of lifting to do as she's the only "human" in most of the movie.
Between this, Prey, and Killer of Killers, we've been blessed with some of the
best Predator content since the original.
Rating: 8/10
Mrs Dex found the Six Million Dollar Man on Peacock and we're doing a series
watch. I can't really call it a rewatch because there's no way I caught a lot of these when they aired. Being Gen X kids, we both have nostalgia for the show so it's
interesting to go back and watch it now, especially with the gratuitous use of stock footage. Prior to the show proper, there were three
made for TV movies to get Col. Austin off the ground.
The Six Million Dollar Man (1973)
I've read this is a good adaptation of the original novel Cyborg by Martin
Caidin. I haven't read the book but I'm not sure how anyone saw this and said
"Yes, we need more!" Steve has mental trauma from his accident and replacement
parts which is understandable and is a great theme for a book. But here he's
very dour and the show just isn't that much fun. The fan-made season one
trailer above gives a little peek at how serious the pilot can be.
I'm lumping these together as there's not a lot to differentiate them. They
basically turned Austin into James Bond with bionics. He's got a sense of
humor and even drops a couple double entendre! They're dated, as anything from
the 70s will be, but they're a lot more fun to watch than the pilot. They
haven't got around to using the iconic sound effects yet so it's a little
weird seeing him in action without them.
Day 2 of my RICC adventures is all about costumes. If you missed the first post about RICC, check it out here.
What would a Comic Con be without people dressing up as their favorite pop culture characters? Pretty boring, I'd say! I'm just going to highlight a few of my favorites here but you can check out all my RICC pics over on Flickr.
Hands down, one of my top favorites from the whole weekend. Granny from Looney Tunes is not a cosplay I've ever seen done before and she nailed it. Speaking of classic cartoons...
The Great Gazoo! I'm always amazed at the stuff people can make.
And of course, you could find plenty of K-Pop Demon Hunter cosplayers.
I'm guessing no one had Venomized Pikachu on their cosplay bingo card! If you look inside it's mouth, you can see the person's head with a Venom mask on.
We ran into this Art the Clown furry in the parking garage.
Over the weekend, they had scheduled cosplayer meetups for different properties. It was a lot of fun to see them all gathered but the real reason for the meetup was so the con photographers could get pics for their socials. It was kind of annoying for those of us that also wanted pictures because they were in front (in the way) and constantly telling us to step back.
This Carnage was pretty impressive but I don't know how they managed to walk around.
Two of my favorite Spider-Verse characters: Spider-Ham and Spider Punk. The Were-verine was pretty awesome in person. They had a speaker rigged up so they could make snarling sounds.
Here's an Avengers only group shot. The Thor on the left had electronics in the hammer that made it look like there was lightning inside it and check out the tiny Black Widow in the bottom right.
Closing out the con on Sunday was a cosplay contest. There was one just for kids and then there was a competition in novice, intermediate, and expert levels.
This is the winner of the kid's competition. The suit has lights in the arc reactor, hands and all the jets. It's impressive but I feel like it's kind of cheating for him to be in the kid's part even if he is just a kid because of how well done the suit is.
Here's another pic to give you an idea how big the suit is.
This Doomslayer (Doom: The Dark Ages video game) took Best in Show in the main competition. I wish I'd gotten better pics of him because it's amazing head to toe. He's also carrying a rifle behind the shield.
Finally, this Assassin's Creed costume took first in the expert category and there's a lot of intricate detail you can't see here. Prior to the contest, the judges meet with each contestant to get an up close look at their work. They're looking at details as well as craftsmanship. Contestants have to submit a build sheet or book that outlines basically how they made the costume and any props.
That's a wrap on day 2, tune in on Friday for the final post!
Last weekend, Mrs Dex and I went to RICC. Usually, when these
things come around, we go just on Saturday and end up waiting in lines most of
the day for autographs and photo ops. This time, we went for the whole 3 day
weekend and it was a much better experience. If you've never gone to a
con on a Friday, I highly recommend it! It's easier to get around
without huge crowds to battle and there's a lot less waiting in lines.
Shortly after we got checked in, I ran into John Kotrides (aka GenxJono) who I didn't know was going to be there. John is a...I'm not sure what the word would be. I hate to use "influencer" because I tend to think of that as a negative, maybe content creator? Anyway, his posts are Gen X-centric! It was a little odd at first seeing someone in real life that you only know from a screen. If you're of a certain age, you should definitely check him out on Threads and TikTok.
I hadn't even planned on getting Brian O'Halloran's autograph but he was generous with his time and fun to talk to. We
got in early and there was no one at his booth. We love The Floor and ended up
talking to him about his appearance on the show last season for a good 20-25 minutes.
He was more than happy to chat with us and get into some behind the
scenes info on how the show is put together. Did you know they film in
Ireland? Once you're eliminated, you're on your way to the airport to go home!
The biggest reason behind us going to the con was to meet some of the stars on
the show Psych. Unfortunately, due to the current state of air travel, Maggie
Lawson cancelled last minute. When we got Tim Omundson's autograph, he had a little fun at her expense (above). We also met Kurt Fuller and Corbin
Bernsen.
We got to attend a live recording of the
Psychologists are In (A Psych Rewatch) podcast, with Corbin subbing in for
Maggie.
I also got to meetup with some friends from my childhood: Will and Holly from Land of the Lost! They had a panel where they talked about their experiences on the show and they led the audience in a sing-along of the show's theme song. So now I can say that I've sung the Land of the Lost theme with them. They were so much fun to listen and talk to. On the far right is Sid Krofft.
We chatted with him briefly as well while getting his autograph to tell him how much we still love these shows that were part of our childhood. He was really appreciative to hear it! He said it's been quite the thing for him to be on the road and hear the nice things people say after all this time.
Here's some other panels we saw.
The Mallrats 30th anniversary panel. There is a script for Mallrats 2 but after Shannen Doherty passed away, Kevin Smith put it on hold. Jason Lee was late to the panel because he had a long line of autographs to finish up.
Pretty in Pink with Andrew McCarthy, Jon Cryer, and Molly Ringwald.
RICC is Jon's first con appearance and he was loving it. He donated his signing proceeds to The Trevor Project for LGBTQ+ youth and raised $86k over the weekend!
Lastly, a Supernatural panel with Kathryn Newton, Richard Speight Jr, Rob Benedict, and Misha Collins. Kathryn was really funny. I think she qualifies as a modern day scream queen and I really should have gotten an autograph.
There were a more celebs there than I can remember but some I do recall are Charlie Cox, Michael Rooker, Katee Sackhoff, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jason Mewes (Kevin Smith cancelled) and a whole lot more. There's a pretty complete list posted here.
That's all for today but stay tuned for more this week!
Sometimes you just need a filler post as it gets near the end of the month.
The Ill Advised Records Retro Halloween Video Special clocks in at almost
4.5 hours. It's quite the compilation of animation, local and national
commercials, and television clips. I haven't watched the whole thing but
what I have skimmed through, it's a blast!
Ultra Halloween VHS is more compilation gold featuring Halloween themed
episodes of Simpsons Treehouse of Horror, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Bobby's
World, and more. It also includes the live action The Halloween That Almost
Wasn't starring Judd Hirsch as Dracula. Between each show are vintage
Halloween commercials.
And just in case you've made it to this point in your life without
seeing the Paul Lynde Halloween Special, here you go! If you weren't around
in the 70s, I can't overstate who prevalent the variety show/special was on
TV.
Lastly, here's the Bugs Bunny Howl-o-ween Special from 1978. If you grew up with Loony Tunes, this will no doubt bring back some good memories.
In 1964, Ideal (who else remembers them?) gave us the first Addams
Family board game. Unlike most mass market games of its time, it's not your
average roll and move.
Disclaimer: None of the photos in this post are mine. I'm not lucky enough to own a copy
of the game! They were sourced from around the internet including
BoardgameGeek.com and Dan Rosenberg from the BGG Facebook group.
The box art is wonderful. You've got the whole family against a
nice rendition of the house, bats flying, and for some reason a skeleton
watching TV. Seeing this made me start thinking how fun it might be to have
had a live action series with animated elements, a la Roger Rabbit, to allow
them to do some crazier things.
The board itself it something that could be framed and hung on a
wall.
From the inside box lid:
The moon, half hidden behind dark gray clouds, casts weird shadows around
the Addams Family Mansion. It is a perfect night for the Addams Family to go
on their annual midnight picnic at the nearby cemetery. The only trouble is
that the family is scattered all over the house. You must have them meet in
front of the house so that they can all leave together.
There should be four tiles for each family member. It's not easy finding a
good photo of the complete components for a 61 year old game!
Each player takes a set of colored chips (referred to as a "man" in the rules)
and a tile of each family member. They place one man on the multi-color start
space of each family member. Before a player spins, each person selects three
of their seven family member tiles in an attempt to predict who will come up
on the spinner.
If the spinner lands on a family member that you selected, you get to move
them the number of indicated spaces. If you were the one that spun, you can
either move your man double the amount on the spinner or move an opponent's
man backward that number of spaces. If you land on a space with Thing on it,
you draw a Thing card and follow the instructions which include things like go
back to start or take another turn.
Turns continue until one person gets four family members to the house and
wins.
Also in 1964, another favorite toy manufacturer, Milton Bradley, released The
Addams Family Card Game.
The game is similar to War. The deck is dealt out to all players and each turn
they flip a card and compare them to see who wins.
It differs from War in that these are the only types of cards in
the deck. The cards essentially play Rock-Paper-Scissors with each card having
one that it wins against, except for Fester/Lurch who are wild and can take
all cards. If there's a tie, they continue flipping cards until only one
person flips a card matching their original card.
Last weekend, Mrs Dex and I went to our first Creation Entertainment
convention, which was also our first Supernatural convention.
Creation has been around since 1971 and they specialize in fandom
specific conventions. I've been to I don't know how many local comic
conventions and a handful of Star Wars Celebrations but this was definitely
the most intimate con I've attended. And I have to say, it was probably the best run con I've been to with regards to making sure people got their autographs and photo ops. Of course there were lines, but they did a great job calling up people by rows to get in the lines and keep them relatively short.
Supernatural fans are called family. Now, before you start getting in your
Fast & Furious jokes, let me tell you I now know why that is. Everyone we
interacted with from fans, to vendors, to the celebrities were all incredibly
nice. They were also welcoming and excited for us when we mentioned it was our
first Supernatural con.
Even though Boston is about 20 minutes away, we made this our "big vacation"
for the year; splurging on a hotel room, upgraded tickets packages, and a few
photo ops. It was definitely nice to only be a few floors up and not have to
travel into the city every day.
Being a smaller con, the majority of the events took place in the hotel
ballroom. This was nice because there wasn't much in the way of counter programming where
you had to choose one event over another.
Most of the events were panels of one or more actors talking to the fans and
doing Q&As. Our tickets included assigned seating which was great because
we were close to the stage and it also meant we were sitting next to the same
people all weekend so we got to know a few folks.
Space Ghost is back in a new comic book series from Dynamite. Issue #1 dropped last week and there are incredible amount of variant covers. Between foil variants and retailer exclusives, there are over 40!
Since my introduction to Space Ghost was Saturday morning cartoons in the 80s, this is my favorite cover. A superhero in outer space. How can you go wrong? Being able to fly and turn invisible are great powers but what I really like are his power bands because it seemed like he had a ray for just about everything packed in there.
After eight seasons and three movies, I have completed my Psych journey...at
least until the next movie comes out. I stopped posting about finishing each
season because there wasn't more for me to say. The show blazed its way into
my top TV shows of all time thanks to the writing and characters. I love
it!
American Nightmare (Netflix)
This true crime doc about a young woman's kidnapping did not go where I
thought it would. The most horrifying thing about the story isn't the
abduction but how the victims were treated by law enforcement. I don't think
I've ever felt enraged after watching a documentary before.
Twisted Metal (S1, Peacock)
My sum knowledge of the game series is some kind of demolition derby with
tricked out vehicles. Oh, and there's an ice cream truck. The series
definitely delivered and was a ton of fun. It brought me back to SyFy's (or
were they still SciFi then?) series Blood Drive which I also love. I haven't
seen Mackie is much outside the MCU but the dude's got serious charisma. It
better get another season!
Given that this is only an hour, they don't spend much time with each movie. I
have a couple of problems with this list. First, Galaxy of Terror is listed
and shouldn't be anywhere near here. Second, Troll is on here and not Troll
2?!?
WTXX was local station 20 in Waterbury, Connecticut from 1982 to 2010.
KidsTime with T.X. Critter was your typical Sunday morning kids show featuring a live
host and puppets. Puppet co-host T.X Critter was created by Paul Fusco who would go on to
create ALF a few years later!
This special hits that magical Halloween childhood sweet spot. It gives me
nostalgia feels even though I'd never seen it. There's just something about it
being a product of the 80s and the charm that only comes from a locally
produced show.
The school kids are just *chef's kiss*
Did I mention it also has the original commercials?
Click below to see the list of participating Countdown blogs!
Last month, the
Retroist posted
about a sitcom from 1989 that I had never heard of called Free Spirit. It
originally premiered during TGIF on ABC and then moved to Sundays. It was only on for four months which is probably why I don't remember it!
The premise is that a 10 year old boy summons witch Winnie Goodwinn via a wish. The boy's father, recently divorced, hires her as a live-in
housekeeper. His three kids know she's a witch but dad doesn't. Magical
shenanigans ensue.
Sharp eyed viewers will recognize Alyson Hannigan (above right) years before
she made her way to Sunnydale. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for
Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Series.
But why am I bringing up this obscure sitcom? Sure the main character is a
witch but the real reason is that among their 14 episodes, they had a
Halloween show. How could you have a show about a witch and not squeeze a Halloween
ep in there?
While you're enjoying this Halloween sitcom, keep an eye out for Maia Luisa
Brewton who was in Adventures in Babysitting as the young, Thor-obsessed Sara
Anderson. I did watch this episode and now I know why I wasn't aware of it. Overall, the show epitomizes the cheesy sitcom. I wasn't expecting much and I got it!
A few other notable guest stars during the shows run include: Seth Green (ep
4), Florence Henderson
and Robert Reed as a divorced couple (ep 10), and Dave Coulier as Winnie's warlock fiancee (ep 13).
Click below to see the full list of Countdown blogs!
Not to be confused with the 1977 made for TV movie
Halloween with the New Addams Family, this Halloween episode was the
first of a new series launched in 1998 after the success of the movies.
Although this is a new series and cast, the pilot episode (along with several
others) recycled storylines from the original 1960s Addams Family series.
Until I watched the horrible The New Addams Family movie last
month, I wasn't even aware of this live action reboot. I've watched a handful
of episodes and while the comedy doesn't feel quite right sometimes, it feels
a lot more Addams than that movie did. The gentleman playing Gomez has said he
modelled his performance on John Astin's and he's definitely doing his best
impression!
Speaking of Mr. Astin, he pops up in a few episodes as Grandpapa Addams!
Wednesday, who returns from the movie, and Pugsley have bigger roles than they
did in the original series. They're also a bit darker than they were on the
original show and that's totally fine with me! If you've ever seen the Charles
Addams cartoons, you know they're a little edgier than their TV counterparts
were.
One thing I'm not a huge fan of with this series is that they changed the
theme song!
Who in their right mind would do such a thing?!?!
If you want to check out this version of the Family, it looks like the entire
65 episode run has been put together in a
YouTube playlist. And if you'd like to watch the original Halloween with the Addams Family
episode...enjoy!
Click below to visit the main Countdown site to see all the participating
blogs.
Archie's Weird Mysteries was an animated series that ran for 40 episodes
between 1999-2000. It was distributed in the US by DIC Entertainment and first
aired on the PAX network. Remember the PAX network? Yeah, I don't blame you.
The series focused on the Riverdale teens encountering all sorts of strange
stuff like zombies, ghosts, and even UFOs after a lab accident goes wrong and
turns the town into a weirdness magnet! It also spawned a tie-in comic series
in 2000 that ran for 34 issues, although it eventually dropped the "Weird" and switched to mundane mysteries.
Among the 40 episodes were a few multi-part story arcs including a 3-parter
called Vampire Night where the climax takes place at a Halloween Party!
Who better to spend Halloween with than the Addams Family? The answer is both nobody or anybody depending on when you visit them. Let me explain...
Released 55 years ago today, "Halloween with the Addams Family" is the seventh episode of the first season of the classic TV series. Hijinks ensue when a pair of robbers try to hide out from the police in the Addams' home on Halloween night. As you might expect, they have no idea what they've gotten themselves into!
Released 42 years ago today, "Halloween with the New Addams Family" reunites the cast in color for a made for TV movie when some crooks come up with a ridiculously convoluted plot to steal the family's riches. Whoa, hold up! "New" Addams Family?!
I had a hard time making it through this one and couldn't do it in one sitting. It just doesn't feel like the Addams Family I know. Sure, it's in color but the characters feel off even though all the major players are back. It feels more like any Saturday morning kids' show in the 70s.
We're introduced to Gomez's brother, Pancho who has the hots for Morticia (I mean, I don't blame him!) but she continues to let him smooch her hand and arm with verbal warnings while Gomez is away. I wouldn't think she'd stand for it for a second.
Then there's Wednesday Jr. and Pugsley Jr. who don't really do much. The crooks have a pair of strong men that look like they're cosplaying Rocky from Rocky Horror, barely dressed with metallic shorts.
While it was good to have the gang back together, it never feels quite right. One thing I did really like about this is the family tradition of trimming the scarecrow on Halloween night with the youngest child getting to put the head on top, like a Christmas tree star.
And if you don't have a lot of time, you can just do The Lurch. This was the best quality video I could find online so I apologize for the text on screen.
If you check out the other Countdown to Halloween bloggers by clicking below, a ghost may follow you home!
